Name: Romy Kregsman

Social Justice Group: Homelessness—Communities of Color and Children

Date of Fieldwork: February 2, 2022

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Sham’s DaBaron(Da Homeless Hero)

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

On Wednesday, the 2nd of February, we were honored to meet with Shams DaBaron. Many people know Shams today as Da Homeless Hero. The interesting part of this interview was learning his experience. Normally, you’d learn about information on the topic, but because Sham’s experienced homelessness, we got to learn his experience and what he does now to help the issue.

Shams told us how he became Da Homeless Hero. He actually lived in a hotel once and because of the hostility in his neighborhood, he was gonna have to move downtown from the Upper West Side. People downtown worked with an organization called Open Hearts and luckily connected with Shams, and helped him throughout his struggles. Because of this organization and his perseverance, he now fights for people experiencing homelessness.

Something that stood out to me was how he gets his information. He told us that he read books that really inspired him to get his name Da Homeless Hero and ideas to help others experiencing homelessness. I was also struck when he told us our relationship with people experiencing homelessness had to change. We look down at them and do not see them as people, when we really needed to. He told us all they really want is to be seen. Smiling at them can really make a difference.

This interview was really important because it gave us an inside view from someone who has experienced the human rights issue we are learning about. His story was incredible and it was so inspiring.