As a drugs dealer and criminal, Paul Aylen knew what it was like to be homeless, sleeping rough on the street. Then his life turned around — no more break-ins or drugs. He was able to get an education, a job he liked, and even acquired a lovely wife and baby daughter along the way. Today he’s back on the streets again. But this time he’s telling other people how his life was turned around.
Paul’s downhill spiral began as a child of just six years old when his parents got divorced. He recalls: ‘I felt a lot of hurt and anger. All this anger just built up because of rejection by my Dad’. Paul became so unstable that he had to be placed in foster homes. By his teens, he was in trouble with the police and expelled from two different schools.
‘At 17, I found out where my Dad was. As soon as I saw him, I knew I didn’t like him. I wanted to cry out to him, ‘Where were you in my childhood, when I needed you?’ I tried living with him, but couldn’t. So I ended up on the streets, sleeping rough.’
