Homeless Teacher

THE CURIOUS CAR THAT NEVER DROVE AWAY

A homeless American substitute teacher helped by his former student 

By Stephen Wilson

 

A substitute teacher who was homeless after sending his
payment back home to Mexico to support his family!

It is still there! That is what got Steven Nava pondering a lot every morning and night he passed by the grounded car that lay in the car lot, on his way to work. He noticed a lot of belongings stashed up in the car leading him to put two and two together. The driver was evidently homeless. Many thoughts passed through Steven's head such as, "How does the guy in this car deal with the dreadful weather conditions?" "How does he handle the cold?" and "How can anyone get used to living there?" 

The car was parked within the vicinity of Steven's home. "Who was the person who lived rough in this car?" Steven kept watching and wondering until he caught sight of the unlucky man. He was stunned by what he saw.  The resident turned out to be his former substitute teacher, 77 year old Jose Villarruel. He had been present at 12 lessons of Steven's at the Fontana High school in the San Bernardino county of California. Steven remembered the teacher as a 'great funny and helpful educator.'

When Steven approached and asked how Jose ended up on the streets he answered that he had lost his work when the pandemic had led the school to switch to on-line lessons. The only income Jose had was a social security benefit payment and most of that was sent to his very ill wife in Mexico. Since he could no longer afford the household bills he decided to live in his car.   

Steven gave him 300 dollars to help out. But he knew this wasn't enough. He had to do something much more! He stated, "I had a mission to help the teacher who was going through a difficult time during the pandemic". But how could he help? Then he had a brain wave. He made a public appeal on Twitter called 'Go Fund me'. The aim was to raise 15,000 dollars . But even that goal struck some people as being too ambitious. To his surprise he managed to raise 27,000 dollars {1.9 million rubles}. And many of his former students had fond memories of their former teacher recalling how helpful, kind and cheerful he was.

 

The teacher himself always told his students to never give up on pursuing a project they believed in even when faced with difficulties. It seems that Steven took this advice to heart. Jose told himself, "I must not give up and I have to go on, and on, with what I have to do for this stage to pass". And in deed, this stage passed! Steven Nava presented the pleasantly shocked teacher with a check for 27,000 dollars on his birthday!

 

It is a pleasant but still sad story to read. How many people, especially teachers, are living in cars? And what if Steven Nava had not noticed the plight of the teacher? For many people go by in 'an urban trance' or are wholly absorbed in their mobile phone gadgets. It is not always a case they are bad or totally indifferent. They are living in their own worlds oblivious to the world around them. Why on earth are so many teachers denied the right to a decent living? Why is there no effective safety net to prevent such a dire situation when a 77-year-old teacher is forced on to the streets after losing his job due to the lock down, or cuts in public spending? A substitute teacher who has lost his job should not have to rely on chance charity intervention. An ambitious and adventurous socialist government with a bit of imagination could prevent such cases. And a stronger teacher union which fights for the protection of workers as well as their wages, can make a difference.  

 

There is not just one teacher such as Jose Villarruel on the streets but many. Homeless activists even have a term to describe living in a car called 'Vehicle residency.' This is a polite way of putting things! An estimated one out of four homeless people in America are living in cars. There is nothing romantic about this predicament. They live under the constant stress of having their cars pillaged by thieves or can be fined by the police for violating 'restricted parking places'. They are more  often always on the move to avoid harassment. In England there are stories of impoverished teachers living in improvised boats on canals and in Russia, some homeless sleep in the foyers of apartment buildings, underground passages, wooden sheds and even abandoned dachas. 

It is practically impossible to estimate the exact number of homeless teachers in America as work becomes more precarious, incomes fall and spending cuts rise. What we can say is there are way too many. Those teachers are not homeless because of personal shortcomings, laziness or incompetence, but because of an inefficient and ineffective system which refuses to offer people what they basically deserve after working hard all their lives: an affordable home, decent pensions and accessible medical care that is free! It is time more people noticed and acted!  Many cases such as Jose's are preventable.

  

I acknowledge the aid of  an article by Jillian Eugenois in Yahoo on March 14th, 2021 which seems to be one of the best written about this case as well as the reference from Fox 11 and Russian version on Metro.