Homeless need opportunities, not handouts
Published 26 September, 2008, 05:38
Officially there are 4.5 million people homeless in Russia, with more than one million thought to be children forced to live on the streets. In the city of St. Petersburg there are around 50,000 homeless. And it’s not always poverty that is the main reason for their marginalisation. It’s often their own choice. But it’s also true that they need help in adapting and integrating into society.
Vitaly is 65 and has been intermittently homeless for more than 50 of them. He has no legal permission to live or work in St. Petersburg. He takes odd jobs as a builder or nightwatchman but frequently gets cheated by his employers. Nine years ago he bought his first stack of magazines from a charity, selling them on for twice the price. Since then, this has often been his only means of existence.
“I am old. I wish I could find something more stable. There are things I want. Maybe I will still get lucky,” Vitaly says.
A couple of hundred yards away, is Evgenia's favourite drinking spot. She was a field doctor during World War II, and receives a pension from the state. Evgenia says she lives like this out of choice: “Me and my friends, we don't like to go anywhere. We just sit here on the bench talking about life, listening to music. I am happy with my life”.
Nadya, aged 19, is the youngest member of Evgenia's drinking group. She ran away from home five years ago, when she was fourteen, and became a prostitute, spending her earnings on heroin. Now her home is a boiler room underneath an apartment block. Nadya has AIDS, and steals to fund her addiction. She, too, doesn’t seem to long for a better life: “Sometimes I lie there at night and think about my life, and how tired I am of it. But in the morning I have a hit, and I don't need anything else”.
Max, around 30 by looks, hasn't had a permanent home since coming to St. Petersburg when he was a teenager. “Where I came from, there is nothing,” he says. “At home there was only one road- the road to alcoholism”.
He spends weekends time playing football with Sunday League team – which is no ordinary one, they are the champions of Europe amongst homeless people.
Authorities and charities mostly address the material problems – offering accommodation, food and clothes. But the reason for long-term homelessness is often psychological – be it drug addiction, mental health or relationship issues.
Arkady Tyurin, a former vagrant himself, says a new approach is necessary. He heads Way Home, a charity which offers the homeless opportunities to earn money, find housing and meet other people instead of giving handouts. For Russia, this is an innovative approach.
It is Way Home that publishes the magazine that Vitaly sells, and organises Max's football team.
“What we are actually doing, is inventing different technologies for people to overcome their loneliness, to counter the pain of existence, and to help them help themselves,” Arkady explains.
Way Home cannot aid more than the several hundred people who come into contact with it each year. But with homelessness still prevalent in Russia despite improving living standards, maybe it points to a more holistic approach to tackling a complex problem.
