Daren’s horrific past drove him to a self-destructive life on the streets. He now works hard to lead a productive and positive life.
Daren’s mum abandoned him when he was eight. While in foster care he suffered months of emotional and physical abuse that sent him into a downward spiral of drug addiction and homelessness. With the support of Oasis, these dark days are over. Darren has maintained his own stable accommodation for more than two years.
His journey can also be seen in The Oasis documentary.
In 2009, Darren was given the honour of speaking at the launch of The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal at the Sydney Town Hall before an audience of over 500 of Sydney’s business and community leaders, including the Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. This is his speech:
Hi everyone,
The footage taken from the documentary was of me two years ago. If you know my story, you know that my mother abandoned me and my older brother when I was eight years old - so me and my brother sold drugs to support ourselves. It was six months before someone found us.
I was split up from my brother and placed in foster homes where I was beaten and abused.
I had my first shot of heroin when I was fourteen and that took away all of my thoughts and feelings of what I was going through.
Prior to moving into the flat that the Salvo’s got for me I had been homeless for ten years.
I spent at least three years in jail.
I was a regular user of ice, a drug that destroyed my reality.
I have had so many admissions to psych hospitals that I have lost count.
I believed that I was beyond hope and help.
But there was someone and one organisation that never gave up hope for me. That always believed in me. That was Paul Moulds and the Salvation Army.
And today though everyone else thought that I was beyond hope, I stand here and say that I’m proof no one is.
The documentary shows me at some of my worst moments.
Here are some of my better ones.
I have kept that flat for over two years now, I pay my rent every week. I have things in it that are my own.
Since the documentary, my mother has contacted me and she has said sorry and we talk regularly.
I have a child who lives in South Australia and I talk to him, and I am trying to have a positive influence on his life.
I am grateful for what has been given to me and I am trying to give back. I cannot work yet because of the things I am going through, but I help Paul out, like collecting for the red shield appeal or telling my story or helping at Oasis.
Paul talks a lot about miracles. When I look at myself on the documentary and see where I was then and where I am today I think maybe I am one.
Thank you all for listening to me today and supporting the work of the Salvos, and helping more kids like me become a miracle too.
*Note: All stories are true at time of publishing. Names and locations may be changed to protect the identities of the young people.
