HN PHOTOS: ‘ANYBODY HOME?’
“Out of sight, out of mind. The absent are always in the wrong.”
~ Thomas à Kempis (venerated priest from the late medieval period in Germany)
WEST YARMOUTH – [HN PHOTO NOTES] – Yesterday afternoon, YPD patrol officers check on the wellbeing of those living in an isolated homeless encampment, after being notified by a concerned citizen who works nearby.
Nobody was “home.”
The woods surrounding Hyannis and West Yarmouth are “home” for numbers of individuals living inside tents. Reportedly, there are particularly large encampments behind the Cape Cod Hospital, as well as the woods along the Route 28 corridor entering Hyannis from West Yarmouth. These camps are near ponds and marshy areas which are infested with mosquitos and dense vegetation.
Encampments are often places of unreported violence and disease. Some of the individuals living in these isolated wooded encampments have, for one reason or another, purposely turned away from a perceived, different set of challenges presented by the more organized downtown Hyannis homeless establishments, which include shelters and outreach initiatives. Others living on the outskirts may do so to feel a sense of freedom. [Others have no choice.]
In an effort to raise awareness, HN will continue to document and share images of the challenges and conditions effecting our often-forgotten Cape Cod homeless population.
P.S. – Today’s Hytown Vignette is a brought to you by Robin Lamont and the cast of Godspell (1973)… [CLICK IT/CRANK IT! HEADPHONES ABSOlUTELY OBLIGATORY!]
