Benjamin, 38.

He has a sense of joy and laughter!

We all go through trials and hardships in life. We have our ups and downs. These life experiences are just dealt with differently by each person. Some people may become engulfed in their work, others may become closed off, some may reach out to find comfort and some may get lost in addictions…a different story for each.

Now Benjamin is someone I met many years ago. He has a rough exterior that might make others misconstrue him for someone he is not. This is because after years of trials and hardships, experiencing times where he felt judged by the “outside world”, he had to create this persona. But Benjamin is genuinely a kind hearted guy.

Benjamin’s birth mother put him up for adoption when he was just a baby…so the Lord placed him in a good Christian family where he was introduced to Christ at a young age and even so he did experience neglect and emotional abuse.

Random note: Benjamin’s favourite thing to do is spend time with his dog. 

Edmonton days

“When I was new on the streets of Edmonton, I got drunk with a guy from the shelter I was staying at…this guy handed me something that gave me a buzz! That’s the last thing I remember. I was put in an induced coma for four months. Now what I ended up taking was an anti psychotic, I had a lot in my system. So it was because of how much I took of this pill that I woke up in a hospital where I was blind and a vegetable.

Once I started remembering more and I was coherent, I remember meeting with this, I think he was a doctor, I remember meeting with this doctor like once a week or so, and he was always smiling and he was always telling me things are gonna be okay Benjamin, your gonna be okay.

When I got out of the hospital I wanted to go thank him, he didn’t exist. Nobody fit that description…you know who it was? Nobody fit that description…I was asking the nurses saying ‘no this is where we would meet’ and they were like ‘nope, nobody’s…not here.

They told me my vision wouldn’t come back, but I can see. Also that I wouldn’t be able to speak; I’m speaking. And that I would never walk again; I’m walking.”

Benjamin, part 2. 

Story as told by Benjamin to Kiki Schindel, introduction by Kiki, photography by Kiki and Laurence East.