Jumar Hayward and Cahlii Smith had no idea what they were getting into when they decided to leave their warm homes and comfy beds to shadow a vagrant for two days.It turned into a major lesson in humanity and gratefulness for the two young men who make up two-thirds of the music group, Dem Biez.Mr Hayward and Mr Smith challenged themselves to live on the streets after meeting drifter Raymond Busby outside a store in Hamilton.After hearing him sing, they wanted to know more about his story and promised to come back to “hang” with him. To Mr Busby’s surprise they came back and stayed for a couple nights.“I had seen them [performing] with Johnny Barnes in the newspaper so when I met them down on Front Street by English Sports Shop we got into a conversation about the music,” Mr Busby said.The pair later showed up at his “home”, asking if they could live with him for two days and film the experience.It was his hope to show others that “it’s real people living on the streets with heart and integrity”, said Mr Smith, 20.To do that he had to cope with the cold and the unavoidable stench of being homeless.The smell disappeared after two days, Mr Smith said. The cold was a different story.“Even your bones get cold out here. I have five layers of clothes on out here, but it doesn’t matter I am still cold. You try and duck the wind, but it always finds you.”Regular folk treated them differently because they were living on the street, the men said.Said Mr Smith: “I saw friends who didn’t know it was me and I still tried to talk to them, but they didn’t pay me no mind. Even the ones who did notice me automatically assumed I was homeless, and they didn’t speak to me because I was out here.“It was really interesting to see how people react over a change of circumstance. I thought I would be more proud of my Island.”On more than one occasion the young men pretended they had hurt themselves to see if anyone would help. In every case passersby ignored them.“If we were normally dressed with a suit and briefcase, someone would have definitely helped us out,” Mr Smith said.The band mates said they would typically go without food until the Salvation Army or Seventh-day Adventist Church served their evening meals.They were both surprised by how many people were lined up for food — a few of whom were dressed professionally. Mr Hayward said it felt like a family dinner; the people all seemed to know each other.The 22-year-old said it was interesting to watch how some people lived a double life. They would shave and clean up to look presentable, but when the sun went down would be left to find a place to crash on the streets.“Because Mr Busby lives out here he was able to show us some of the tuck-off areas where people do sleep that’s out of sight like at Albuoy’s Point and Barr’s Park,” he said.“And as we were walking around we saw so many people, not just the same five you always see but maybe about 30 homeless people.“We saw guys in trees out of sight. It was crazy and they would wake up early in the morning, have their good clothes in a bag, put them on, wash up in a public bathroom and be off in the street trying to get money however they can or look for a job.”Many of the people wanted to work, Mr Smith said: “The struggle is real.”When the sun went down they would search for a place to sleep down. Inevitably there were a few fights and some people engaging in “explicit sexual things”.They walked for hours during the day hoping to make money by holding up a cardboard sign reading ‘will sing for cash’. Only one lady pulled out a $2 bill for the boys; a man handed them a ten cent piece.Mr Smith said: “The funny things is we are actually singers and run a production company. People usually come up and beg for us to sing to them.”They said they both learned a lot from the experience and hope to show footage from their video to young people in the Island’s schools.They also plan to record a song with Mr Busby.Mr Hayward hopes the video might help to break down some of the stereotypes about homeless people.Not all are addicted to alcohol or drugs, he said.There were those who simply failed to make ends meet and didn’t have anyone to lean on for help.“I learned that no matter how hard you are living or how hard your circumstance is it doesn’t mean you have to be a mean person,” Mr Hayward said. “Busby is a wonderful man to talk to and it teaches you to just be friendly and live life less stressed.”Mr Smith said the experience had really challenged him to be more empathetic about what others are going through.He said: “It’s not what I want to take, it’s what I am going to take because I look at these people very differently now.“Every day you see people in the streets, even people in suits, and we never pay them at second glance as to what their life is like and you never know what someone’s circumstance is, so we really can’t judge by appearances.”For more information on Dem Biez, visit the group’s Facebook page.