No one should be left to die in the middle of Sydney, alone and unseen.
That was the powerful message delivered by homelessness support worker Erin Longbottom to a crowd gathered in Hyde Park to honour Bikram Lama.
The crowd gathered at dusk under the fig tree canopy of Sydney’s Hyde Park, tucked behind St James station, holding electric candles in blue, red, white and purple.
His friend, Joe Trueman, a former rough sleeper, played the Phil Collin’s song on the guitar in tribute: “Another day in Paradise.”
St Vincent’s Health, which had been attempting to assist Lama before his death, say his non-resident status made it near-impossible for him to escape homelessness.
“Late last year, my team and I arrived at work to the news that one of the young non-residents we had been trying to support had died,” Longbottom, St Vincent’s homeless health service nursing unit manager, said at the vigil on Thursday.
“That was Bikram. Tonight we remember him.”
“A young man who came here with hope, for study, for opportunity, and for a future. A person who lived, and struggled, and died unseen.”
Lama, who came to Australia from Nepal, is thought to have remained undiscovered for up to a week and his body was decomposed by the time he was found by station staff.
His elderly mother was then asked to travel to Kathmandu from her remote village to provide a DNA sample to confirm her son’s identity.
The coroner’s court confirmed this week it is still waiting on that formal identification process to conclude. The delays have frustrated the Australian-Nepalese community, who say it is creating lingering distress for his family.
Bam Bunyalak came to the vigil as someone who has known what it’s like to be homeless and a non-resident in Australia.
After arriving from Thailand on a student visa, Bunyalak told Guardian Australia she escaped family violence and became homeless for years with no access to healthcare and support.
In her speech, she said being a non-resident in Australia can feel like a kind of “disease with many symptoms”.
“Homelessness is one of the symptoms. mental health struggles is another, she said.
“Bikram Lama deserved a better life, but now he is gone. He did not get the chance to say goodbye to his family, and it feels like nobody cared.
“So today, I stand here as a non-resident, one voice among many non-residents to say that every single life matters, regardless of race, gender identity, background or residency.”
Also at the vigil, independent state MP Alex Greenwich said he had met with the premier, Chris Minns, and written to the state attorney general, Michael Daley, to urge for an inquest be held to examine potential policy failings.
“I’m concerned that at a state and federal level, we have policies that discriminate against rough sleepers who are non-residents,” he said.
Greenwich said Lama died only about 200 metres from NSW parliament.
“It is in that house and in our parliament, that policies are made, decisions are made, that may very well have contributed to the death of Bikram,” he said.
The death is one of three recent cases that have shocked the nation.
In recent weeks, a newborn baby died during birth at a homeless camp at Wagga Beach and a young Indigenous mother died of sepsis in Western Australia, after being evicted from public housing.
Experts and homelessness groups say the deaths must prove a watershed moment for the country.
“No one should die alone,” Longbottom said. “No one should die invisible.”
“And no one should die because they are homeless.”
“We need to hold onto the simple truth that sits underneath all of this: Homelessness is solvable – if we as a society choose to solve it.”
