Rob’s Story
“When you’re homeless you’re always told not to be somewhere. When you are told that enough, you begin to feel like you don’t belong anywhere.”
The day Rob Lowther moved into his home with Onward, he had few possessions to move. A friend brought an old army cot he used as a bed, and Rob unearthed a rocking chair and dragged it up to his empty apartment.
“I would sit in the dark in that chair and rock back and forth and say thank you,” he recalls…
His new life with Onward marked the end of a three-year span where Rob experienced homelessness. Moving into Horizon View was the first time in three years he finally felt safe.
“I lived in shelters for years. We would sleep on gym mats a foot apart from one another. People would roll over and into your space. There was never a moment of quiet time.”
Today, Rob is grateful for a steady roof over his head, windows to look out of and blinds to cover them. He is most grateful for a quiet, small space of his own. “You don’t realize how important privacy is until you don’t have it,” he says.
Rob speaks four languages, has a degree in history with a minor in French and German, and has lived in four provinces. He came to Calgary in 1986 from the East Coast. He loved living in Calgary during the 1988 Olympics. “I would spend my lunch hours helping people from other countries learn to use our transit system. It was so fun.”
He worked retail jobs almost his entire life. At one time, he wished to go to SAIT to take a library sciences diploma, but he had to work in order to pay rent and bills, so that dream died.
“But that’s life,” Rob says. “Looking back on it I wouldn’t want my life to be any different than it has been.”
During year two of homelessness, Rob’s legs began to swell severely. He says his body felt “wrong” and someone at the shelter called 9-1-1. It was a strep infection in his leg – a virus that commonly infects people sharing places. In three years of living in and out of shelter, Rob contracted three separate strep infections. Now, he’s grateful to be in charge of his own cleanliness and hygiene.
“Something you don’t realize you are grateful for is having your own bedding and your own washroom until you have to share with 300 others,” he says.
Rob marvels at the things many people take for granted – decorating his space the way he wants to, with trinkets and books and DVDs. His university diploma hangs on the wall. “When you’re homeless you’re always told not to be somewhere. When you are told that enough, you begin to feel like you don’t belong anywhere. I’m thankful for the home I have – it’s not perfect, but we can make it our version of perfect as best we can.”
