Faithy, Portobello Promenade - ‘changes in my life’

“I grew up in Mbale, a rural part of western Kenya, in a home built with natural materials. Daily life taught me resilience early - like fetching water from a kilometre away and helping cook over firewood outdoors.

I was a bright student. I loved maths. I won a scholarship from the Mastercard Foundation to a very good school in Nairobi, about 9 hours from home. There was a big class distinction there. I was privileged, but I was one of the privileged poor. This could have affected my studies, but my scholarship mentor encouraged me to focus on my grades. I did that, and soon kids from the higher classes were asking me for help! I gained respect from that.

In university I was shy, but I pushed my boundaries and went on youth leadership programmes in the US and UAE. After university I worked in youth leadership development. I was tasked to develop other young leaders. I was based in Nairobi but I travelled to different universities in Kenya to meet young undergraduates and lead sessions on communication skills, leadership and how to find opportunities. Then, in 2020, the Mastercard Foundation awarded me a scholarship for a Masters in African International Development at Edinburgh University. 

Today I work in Edinburgh University as a recruitment coordinator, supporting African-based students applying to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and then into their relevant degree program at the University.” 

What's the best decision you've made?

“To be a Christian. 

Like most people in my village growing up I went to church. But it wasn't something I really understood. But my faith is more alive now. Ever since I decided to embrace Christianity I've seen changes in my life. I think in more clear ways, and I have a community here. My faith, my church, Christianity, has rooted me here.

It feels like home, you know.”

Charlie, Semple Street - 'that's why he's still alive'

“When I was sixteen my little nine-year-old brother got run over and killed by somebody who didn't even have a licence. Surviving life when you lose a loved one at a young age … it's so hard. At that age you don't really understand much. You never get taught about bereavement as a youngster, do you? I think that's what pets are for, you know, especially pets that have a short life like goldfish and hamsters. When you lose a pet, you understand bereavement. I think that should be mandatory in education though, because the bereavement of a loved one is a huge challenge.”

Do you think grief is something that passes in time, or do you adapt to living with it?

“Everybody will adapt, whether it's a good adaptation or a bad adaptation. I was on the good side, because I've never done anything incriminating as an act of revenge, which normally a brother would like to do, But I'd say I've done a sentence in my head. That’s the punishment.”

Do you feel reconciled to the person responsible?

“I know it was an accident. He never meant it. That's why he's still alive. My dad taught me a saying, ‘Don’t analyse the past because it’s bad for the soul.’ Overall, I’ve definitely got more happy memories than sad memories.

I live in the present, in the now. Being here right now and having this conversation with yourself is a happy moment.”

Heather, South Bridge – ‘I cut down my arm’

“I used to write poems for The Big Issue magazine.

The very first one I wrote was for my grandad when he died, and I was in the children's home at Moredun in 1992. It went …

‘Grandad was so pure and kind, the sweetest man you'd ever find.

Sandy Douglas was his name, working hard for his family was his game.

Now as it started to rain, I was feeling a lot of pain,

but a lot of happy faces as I walked along the street.’

I wrote another one about suicidal tendencies.

‘Please don't cry because I want to die. I don't know where, I don't know how,

I only know how I feel right now. Please don't cry because I want to die.

The pain inside is not hard to find, I only know how I feel right now.

Please don't cry because I want to die. I don't know where, I don't know how,

I only know how I feel right now.’”

Did you know somebody who was suicidal when you wrote that?

“Me.

I had suicidal tendencies and I self-harmed and everything when I was in the children's homes. People who really mean it cut themselves across the arm. People who are crying for help cut themselves down the arm.

I cut down my arm.”

Tam, South Bridge – ‘years in prison’

“I’ve spent a lot of years in prison.

Then they throw you out into this homeless, hopeless existence.

So, I’m going to do something to get me back inside again.”

Sara, Lothian Road – ‘I always felt I love with Scotland’

“I’m from Italy but I always felt in love with Scotland, so I decided to come here when I had the chance. It was a lovely decision. I love staying here, I love the place, I love the people - they involve you in everything. Honestly, in Scotland I found a good community. Sometimes maybe the Scottish accent was hard to understand, but it's okay, we can do it!”

Do you enjoy your job?

“I love it because you meet a lot of nice people. They're on holiday, they're happy, so no drama, absolutely. I can use my language skills in French, Italian and English, so it's good. I'm a street photographer as well, so I go around the city a lot and I can give them suggestions about what to visit, what to see.

My plan at some point is to go back to Sardinia because my family, my friends, my closest ones are there. But for now, I’m staying here.”

Gordon, Royal Mile – ‘I’m bipolar. But you look at the positive side’

I’m bipolar. But you look at the positive side, not the negative side of life. I wrote a wee poem about that. It's a wee bit cheesy and you might need a bucket halfway through to spew in, but here goes …

'Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner, someone saw my grin,
and suddenly I realized I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile, and I realized its worth,
a single cheeky smile like mine could travel round this earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic, and get the world infected.'

Live your best life.

I've got a two-bedroom flat. I’d say there's been over 100 people that have not been in a great situation for a night who’ve come back to mine. I quite enjoy the company. They just come back, and they can wash their clothes or get a wee shower or have a wee comfy bed for a change you know.

Why not?

You don't look on the negative side of life, you look on the positive. I wake up in the morning and think to myself, what fun am I going to have today?”

Ara, Haddington Place – ‘it’s such a happy chapter in my life’

“I came back to Edinburgh not long ago after being away for nine years. That turned out to be a really good decision, not only because Edinburgh is such a great city but because one night in 2023 as I was walking along the Cowgate this guy called Jonah ran up to me and said he recognised me from primary school. I’d not really taken notice of him before but, long story short, we’re together now. And it's become such a happy chapter of my life.”

Eddie, Straiton Retail Park – ‘never sober’

“I got married too young. I was 22, and I wasn't ready for it. A lot of people from back then would think I'd be in my box and dead in the ground by now. I was drinking heavy, never sober. Never sober.

She gave me chances, but I was that selfish I didn't think about her feelings. She used to put wee notes in my cigarette packet saying, ‘I love you’ and things like that. She'd buy me clothes, and I'd take them back to the shop on the Monday, get the money back and go gambling and drinking it. My cupboards were full of beer. I used to get guys coming to my door and saying, ‘Any beer Eddie?’

She was a special woman to stick with me for as long as she did. I only hope she's got a great life now.”

How did you change?

“It was after I met my second wife. We both smoked and drank a lot. But when her son had his first child he said to us, ‘If you're going to carry on like this, you're not going to see him.’ That gave us a shock. I loved her children. And they treated me like their dad.

And that’s what finally broke our chains.

So, I passed my driving test when I was 58. I got a wee Vauxhall Corsa, and I used to take my grandkids to the beach, away down to Cramond, Gullane, North Berwick. It was fantastic. I’ve got six grandchildren now.

It’s funny what sticks in your mind. One of them saw a caterpillar on the ground at Cramond. He asked me if it would still be there next week when we came back. I said it could be, not imagining it would. But when we returned there was a caterpillar right there in the same place! They thought it was waiting on us to come back, so I said, ‘Aye, that's what he's done.’

One day when the tide was out, we found a dead porpoise. They were amazed at that. Yeah, they love these memories, and they talk about it all the time. They said to me, ‘Grandad, we'll never forget what you've done.’

My second wife passed away three years ago. But she wouldn't want me to be any other way than the way I am.”

Clare, Waverley Bridge – ‘one of my best ever decisions’

“I’d really like to do this, but I’ve only got four minutes left of my lunch break.”

OK, let’s do rapid fire.

What would your optimal day look like?

“That would look like a day in the sunshine, spent with family, or just my friends maybe, in a beer garden with a glass of wine, out and about outside enjoying the sunshine.”

What’s been your best decision?

“I work in the Post Office, but I'm leaving to study midwifery. I've just finished an access course that's getting me into Uni., and I've got a place to start in September. It was after having my kids that I decided I wanted to do midwifery. I’ve got two boys, Liam and Thomas, aged three and four and I think this is one of my best ever decisions.” 

How has having children changed you?

“Oh, it's changed me totally. I was selfish and went out all the time and didn't think about others, but, yeah, it's changed me completely. You become more grounded.”

What advice would you like to give your 15-year-old self?

“Be more sure of yourself. I know a lot of 15-year-olds are led by others, but I really was. So, yeah, just be more sure of yourself and live life how you want to live it, not how others tell you.”

What's your happiest memory?

“Having my children and being on holidays with them. They just bring so much laughter.”

Do you have a guiding principle in life?

“I'm quite a cheery person, so I try not to let things get me down. What is it they say …  ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ Yeah, just get on with it.”

Bruce, Colinton Road – ‘it’s a bit late for should-haves, Marge!’

“I was an investment manager for 40 years. I’ve just retired, but I've got my health and I'm fit. I go about on a bike and I’m still playing football at 67. It’s absolutely fantastic.”

Would you change anything about your life if you could?

“One of my favourite Simpsons clips is where the Simpsons visit Japan. They sign into a hotel where the walls are all paper. When they go up to their room, rather than going through the door Homer just walks right through the wall, and you see this outline of his shape that he's crashed through the paper. Marge says to him, ‘Homer, you should have gone through the door.’ And he says, ‘It's a bit late for should-haves, Marge!’

And it's a bit like that, I guess, in life. You look back and you say, I should have done this, or I should have done that. But it's a bit late for should-haves, and it was what it was.”

Would you describe yourself as a positive person?

“It’s about perspective. Other people are always vital in keeping your perspective. When you get insular and you think it's all happening to yourself and nobody else, that's when you lose the reference of perspective. And it's difficult to get perspective back when you lose it.

That’s a great thing about football. You're all the same on a football pitch. It doesn't matter what you do, or where you come from. You have the same aims, and you'll have the same laughs and all the rest of it, and that's a great thing for keeping perspective. I’ve been very lucky to have that.”

Amaris and Isla, Nicolson Square - 'how ugly she is'

Isla, what’s the best thing about Amaris?

“Nothing at all.” 

Amaris, what's the best thing about Isla? 

“How ugly she is.” 

Yeah right. Lol.

The Biking Boys, Dreghorn – ‘not gaming’

L-R: Bronx, Josh, Freddie, Joel, Isaac, Ethan and Danny

“We’re not gaming types. We’re out here every single day.”

Choose a caption boys.

“If cycling’s all you’ve got, cycling’s all you need!”

Soraya and Salima, Princes Street – ‘the four agreements’

What advice would you give to your younger selves?

Soraya - “Just don't listen to the negatives. Ignore the haters and believe in yourself.”

Salima - “I have four principles I aim to live by. They came from a book called ‘The Four Agreements’. They are:

be impeccable with your word;

do not make assumptions;

do not take things personally;

always do your best.”

Sadie and Phil, Lochrin Basin – ‘he had anger issues’

Phil: “We run music workshops, drama workshops, drumming workshops and movement workshops, mainly for people that wouldn't get a chance to do these things either because of finances or because of disability or because of the autism spectrum - or anything.”

Do you see a discrepancy between how people like that are often perceived and how they really are as people?

Phil: “Very much so. We've had a young autistic guy who came along because he wanted to learn guitar. I've never seen someone who can focus so much. The first time he performed on stage his mum and dad came along. His mum was crying. She said, ‘Last month he wouldn’t talk to anybody but since he's been doing this guitar thing with you, he's suddenly able to talk to people.’ He’s at college now doing sound engineering. It's wonderful.

One of the first workshops we did was African drumming. This tiny little woman in a motorized wheelchair came along. She's bright as a button, and she knows what she wants. The next thing this guy came in with a Mars Bar – a scar - right down his face. He had anger issues, and he's a big guy. She just looked at him, and she went, ‘What's your name?’ He said, ‘John.’ She went, ‘Right John, you're with me.’

I thought, ‘I'm not going to interfere. I'll just see how it goes.’ The reason she picked him was because he was strong enough to pick her up. That was nine years ago, and today they're joined at the hip those two. They're the best pals. And when he starts to get anger issues, she just goes, ‘John, stop it now,’ and he does! If she needs lifting out of the chair or anything, he's there to do it for her. It's done wonderful things for them both.”