When Mama Red lost her Felton, Calif., flower shop 18 years ago, all of her savings went with it. She ended up homeless when she turned to California's shelter network and hated it.
2013-08-30
"Living in shelters is like being in jail," she told Business Insider in mid-July. When we visited her in San Jose's homeless encampment called "The Jungle," the smell of rotting flesh saturated the air. "It's a raccoon," she said, pointing to a shopping cart behind her.
The list of shelter rules drove Mama Red to sleep briefly behind a gas station and from there to a freeway ramp. Five years ago she moved into The Jungle and says she has no regrets.
With the stench of a rotting raccoon in the shopping cart behind her, Mama Red explains how she lost her floral business 18 years ago. She chose to live on the streets instead of a shelter.
Here along the perimeter of The Jungle it's quieter than the community at its center where Red says drugs, fighting, and drama are a daily way of life.
Robert Johnson for Business Insider
Red's daughter had planned on having her baby here, but ended up leaving camp to give birth.
Delivering a baby in these conditions is dangerous. A prematurely born infant died within moments of being born here earlier this year. Three adults have died in The Jungle this year and violence is a constant concern, especially for women.
With her daughter out of the camp, Red tells us how important her four dogs are to her. "They're like my kids. I'd never get rid of them." She continues, "I like living like this if you want to know the truth. Where else can I go with them [the dogs]?"
Food makes its way into Red's camp from charities. Some Jungle residents receive food stamps, but a lack of running water and hygiene challenges complicate daily life.
Robert Johnson was Business Insider's senior correspondent and the originating editor of Business Insider's military-and-defense section.A former US Army noncommissioned officer, Johnson enlisted in the Army before 9/11, was injured, and spent his final two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It was his experience at Walter Reed in 2004 and 2005 that brought him to journalism.Johnson attended the University of Missouri and New York University.
