What do you think?
Life on the Streets
No one ever thinks they’re going to be homeless. But luck can change in a moment, just as it did for author Kim O’Brien-Williams.
One day she was living in a nice three-bedroom home in New Zealand with a friend, the next she was living in a bus with no plumbing or power. She moved to Australia with her two kids, hoping to start a new life. She lived there in an elaborate six-bedroom home with a friend who ripped her off and kicked her out, with only $25 left and nowhere to go. With assistance from organisations, she had accommodation for one night in a motel. Pawning what she could to pay for a second night gave her time to find backpacker accommodation, where they stayed for eight months.
“My memoir shows that life can change in an instant and without warning. It presents a rollercoaster of life’s ups and downs that I endured to get to where I am now, pursuing a meaningful life on the Gold Coast.” She says, “This is my story and the stories of the many people I have met who have been homeless or just down on their luck.”
She writes: “As you wander down the street minding your own business, you come across a homeless man, and it hits you – the dawning realisation that things in your own life are not that bad, that there is always someone out there in a worse situation. These are the homeless people, those living on the streets or sleeping under bridges, some straight out of jail with nowhere to go, no one to help and no family who cares, those finding it hard to get back into society.”
Kim O’Brien-Williams grew up in Brighton, a small beach town just outside Dunedin, New Zealand. She is currently a head chef working on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. This is her second book and was inspired by meeting a homeless man who told her his life story.
One day she was living in a nice three-bedroom home in New Zealand with a friend, the next she was living in a bus with no plumbing or power. She moved to Australia with her two kids, hoping to start a new life. She lived there in an elaborate six-bedroom home with a friend who ripped her off and kicked her out, with only $25 left and nowhere to go. With assistance from organisations, she had accommodation for one night in a motel. Pawning what she could to pay for a second night gave her time to find backpacker accommodation, where they stayed for eight months.
“My memoir shows that life can change in an instant and without warning. It presents a rollercoaster of life’s ups and downs that I endured to get to where I am now, pursuing a meaningful life on the Gold Coast.” She says, “This is my story and the stories of the many people I have met who have been homeless or just down on their luck.”
She writes: “As you wander down the street minding your own business, you come across a homeless man, and it hits you – the dawning realisation that things in your own life are not that bad, that there is always someone out there in a worse situation. These are the homeless people, those living on the streets or sleeping under bridges, some straight out of jail with nowhere to go, no one to help and no family who cares, those finding it hard to get back into society.”
Kim O’Brien-Williams grew up in Brighton, a small beach town just outside Dunedin, New Zealand. She is currently a head chef working on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. This is her second book and was inspired by meeting a homeless man who told her his life story.
86 pages, Paperback
Published March 4, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 13, 2020
Man! When I read this book"life on the stree" it brought tears in my eyes and I reflected how far I came in life. As a young kid in Africa growing up as many of you already know, life in Africa is really tough especially if you don't have the resources to support you and your family...but going through these hard times in life it is a great lesson and at the end of the day it makes you a better person and it puts you in a better position to respect each and every person in the community or society! Thank you Kim for putting yourself out there and experience all the stuff you went through and you could relate to me personally 🙂. Keep writing and don't stop and I look forward to reading many of your books in many years to come. Cheers Amos!
October 4, 2023
Begining was great , the end just turned into a bitch about her old friends.
October 5, 2020
so emotional and such a great book to read
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews