ENTRY DESCRIPTION
VAUGHAN



Though born and raised in Dunedin, New Zealand, Vaughan is of Scottish and Welsh descent. “Yeah, [my ancestors] went to New Zealand a very long time ago. Um … yeah, [they were] some of the first inhabitants. They colonized New Zealand….” Then, laughing, he said, “They weren’t criminals like [the first inhabitants here in Australia]. Yeah, they paid for the trip.”

When asked by my mother if he has any skills, Vaughan replied, “I’m an electrician….” Seeing the look of surprise on my mother’s face he, then, laughed and said:



I’m not here because I can’t work. When you end up on the street, it’s more of a choice. No matter what they tell you, it’s a choice. Yeah, it’s pretty friggin easy to live on the street. It’s free, you know? The government keeps on giving you money. And you’ve got no stress man. You wake up in the morning and the biggest drama is to get breakfast down at the, ah, [food truck]. You struggle out of bed at nine o’clock in the morning laughing. Yeah … yeah. It’s mainly a choice because everyone could be off the streets if they really wanted to.



After Vaughan made this surprising revelation—surprising because it contradicts virtually everything we’ve seen and heard of people experiencing homelessness in North America—he told us that he was planning on reentering the work force and getting a place of his own. “I’ve really got to get a place….I just renewed my electrician’s license again….So I’m ready to go back to work doing that.” He, then, mumbled, as if to himself, “But I’m not looking forward to it.” After he had said this all three of us laughed.

AUTHOR
Leah Denbok is a 17-year-old grade 12 student at Collingwood Collegiate Institute. For the past four years the Leah has been mentored by the National Geographic photographer and Fellow Joel Sartore. When Leah was only 14-years-old, Joel said of Leah, "If she sticks with it I think she is well on her way to becoming not just a good photographer but a great photographer. And I'm not kidding." This past August Leah was invited to exhibit her photography at Christ Church Cathedral during the Supercrawl event in Hamilton. Afterwards, the internationally known street photography, Alex Zafer, posted a comment on Facebook in which he said of Leah, "This is a young woman with an obviously high EQ, mega talent, and a terrific eye for humanizing homeless people on the streets who are so often looked upon, or looked-over as subhuman." After graduating from high school Leah intends to study photojournalism at university.











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