READER’S DIGEST
May• 2019 | 35criminal. One of the best things I
learned was to keep a cheap four-litre
jug and use an outdoor tap to bathe
every few days. A bar of soap can last
you months that way. Being clean can
make the difference between being
allowed to sit in a warm fast-food
restaurant for a few hours nursing a
coffee or getting kicked out as soon
as you walk in the door.
Being homeless doesn’t
have to be a life sentence
About five years ago, I decided I was
done being homeless. I was able
to start a side business that I could
do online, from anywhere, helping
people get on reality TV and game
shows. This money allowed me to
start a new life. But I’m the exception
to the rule. Escaping homelessness,
once you’re trapped in the cycle, is
incredibly difficult, and resources to
help the homeless are terribly under-
funded and under served. If I’m being
totally honest, I still feel like I’m just
one mistake away from being out on
the streets again – and that’s terrifying.How to help
People often ask me what they can do
to help the homeless and I always say,
“Just look around you!” When some-
one has so little, it doesn’t take much
to help. You can start by not judging
the homeless. Don’t say that they
deserve to be in that situation – no
human being deserves that. After
that, donate to causes that support
the homeless in your community. If
you’d donate to someone after a
natural disaster, donate to a home-
less person, they are living a natural
disaster every single day.DOGS PUT TO THE TESTResearchers in Hungary found that normal weight and overweight
dogs behave differently in tasks involving food, and suggest the
dogs’ responses might be similar to human behaviour.
Two bowls were placed in front of a series of dogs, one held a
good meal, the other was empty or held less attractive food.
The canines with normal weight continued to obey instructions
to check the second bowl for food, but the obese dogs refused
after a few rounds. The obese dogs were unwilling to invest
energy to search for food – for them the main thing was to find
the right food with least energy involved. The study suggests
dogs could be used as models for future research into the causes
and impacts of human obesity.REUTERS