JEANS
DEEJAY
“When I was 15 I’ve also been homeless at some moments, but I could sleep at a friend’s place and go back home to make up for the problems I caused. Those are the moments you realize that you have a solid base to fall back on."
“I had a studio in an old nuclear bunker that I shared with other people from the music industry. We had to move out of this building as 400 homeless people were getting in. That place was everything to me. However, the fact that I was making room for people who were living on the street was like a plaster to the wound.
Later that time I cycled past that location to see who was living there, and there were a lot of guys my age. I was quite shocked. Some young guys randomly ended up living on the streets. Rejected by their family, or kicked out of their house because they had sex before marriage.
When I was 15 I’ve also been homeless at some moments, but I could sleep at a friend’s place and go back home to make up for the problems I caused. Those are the moments you realize that you have a solid base to fall back on. There are also cases of kids that have been thrown out about 3 to 4 times, and go to a boarding school at some moment. In the end, nothing works and they end up on the street.
At PIP we try to help those kids to stay of the street with things like graffiti-workshops and breakdance lessons. On Wednesdays, you can pass by as a beginning DJ at the PIP attic to play a set with your friends. We try to make it accessible for everyone, something we find important.
What bothers me is that many people have no idea of the issues such young people are dealing with. You often hear people say: ‘If you are homeless in the Netherlands, you have chosen it yourself’, but you have no idea what is going on with those people, so that attitude makes no sense. People really have a distorted view of how you can end up on the street. “
