By Helen, Relationships Australia QLD – Tell Us Your Story 2016, Staff Winner
I’d like to share what being a neighbour means for us working in the Valley, inner-city Brisbane.
Just days ago Johnno*, a local homeless man, died on the street corner across from our venue.
It was a tragic scene of having the police and body bag be the response to a person’s life.
Street people have their own community.
Connections work in different ways.
Hand-picked flowers and tributes started appearing on the fence near Johnno’s blanket and backpack where he slept.
Early the next morning I took over a bunch of flowers and put them on the fence.
One of the locals sitting vigil asked me who I was, and I said, “A neighbour.”
He replied, “Johnno would have liked the thought of having a neighbour.”
Our neighbours.
*name changed
Relationships Australia has been a leading voice encouraging healthy relationships and the well-being of children, families, individuals and communities for over 70 years and the home of Neighbour Day since 2014.