Ending Homelessness in Prague
Written by our homeless correspondent in Moscow, Russia - Stephen Wilson
PRAGUE : HOW THE HOMELESS HELP PEOPLE
'In Prague religions get lost as do people' lamented the writer Franz Kafka about the city of his birth which he attempted to escape from. What he meant by this was that many of his Jewish compatriots who had arrived in Prague from the countryside had either concealed, forgotten or abandoned their beliefs, customs or religion in order to better survive in an often hostile environment where antisemitism was rife. Some changed their names and even hid their roots from their children with the result that many children grew up not knowing they were actually Jewish. The widespread extent of racism is indicated by a famous Prague legend that during the reign of Rudolf the Second the Jews of Prague were constantly being attacked and murdered. So a Rabbi created a huge monstrous creature called a Golem to go out on to the streets of Prague to defend the Jews from such attacks. But it is not only Jews who get lost in Prague but refugees, homeless people and ghosts. Prague is full of folklore filled with ghosts who are cursed to aimlessly wander the streets of Prague until perhaps a beggar, or homeless person takes pity on him or her by helping them!
Prague represents a major tourist attraction. It's magnificent Gothic, Baroque and classical architecture, charming city square, the Charles Bridge and amazing castles entice a flood of tourists every summer. It is reputed to be the fourth most visited city in Europe. In the early 1990's Daniel Ogan lived in this city and fell in love with it. "I would have stayed in it and could have easily have run a business there, but with the flood of so many tourists it lost a lot of its charm". But Daniel warned me how important it was to always be on your guard and be careful how to use words and speak to people. Anything can happen. He told me that one day he was drinking with friends when one of his friends took a dislike to the behavior of a group of Serbs who were present. "He called the guy an asshole,” he told me. “The Serb overheard this, took out a flick knife, and cut his throat. We managed to save him by calling an ambulance in time. You have to be careful what you say in public places as you can never tell what can happen to you".
Prague in Czech means 'threshold'. It suggests a border between different worlds. According to Russian customs you should never shake hands with someone over the door way of a house as it could spell bad luck. This is because according to Russian Folklore the threshold of a house is inhabited by household spirits who jealously guard this territory. They don't like people who trespass on or violate their territory. Some people believe that in Prague itself you might come across the gateway to hell. In this regard the history of the city doesn't dispel such notions. The events in Prague in 1618 where Protestant rebels threw three officials out of a window of a castle initiated the Thirty Years war and later the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Germans in 1938 turned out to be a major part in a chain of events leading to the Second World War hint that in this city there really might be a gate leading to hell here.
On the Charles bridge the ghosts of 12 beheaded rebels who fought in the Thirty Years war are thought to march over the bridge on the eve of their execution. The heads of those rebels had been placed on the gates of this bridge for over ten years. One of my Russian school students who visited Prague swore he had come across a ghostly face who laughed at him.
Prague is a labyrinth where anyone can get lost and vanish. One of the strangest stories in Prague must be the one concerning a greedy merchant. The story goes that there once lived a complete glutton who adored his food. He thought, "There is no greater pleasure in life than to wine and dine and help yourself to a good meal. Life is a merry feast so let us enjoy it! " His motto might have been. 'Try, taste and never waste'. He wasn't interested in gold and women but just food. While in a classroom he couldn't wait till the lesson ended so he could eat his lunch. He took literary the saying 'All the World is my oyster'. Better bacon and egg than playing football. He was an extreme glutton. He was supposed to have the biggest belly in Bohemia.
One evening he went into his favorite pub in Prague. He was huffing, puffing and knocking over chairs as he came in. He sat down and ordered two roast geese and a turkey which he devoured. Then he washed it down with twenty pints of wine. When a starving homeless beggar approached him and pleaded for the bread which was still left, the merchant refused to give him it. The merchant simply laughed at him and told him to go away. The beggar got so angry that he prayed to God that the merchant would explode. And later, the merchant exploded and died. Afterwards, the merchant found he had become a ghost who was doomed to aimlessly wonder the streets of Prague. He was under a curse. The spell can only be broken if a homeless person takes pity on him and gives him a piece of bread.
Why can only a homeless person break the spell? Perhaps it suggests that our relationship with the less fortunate has profound and deep overtones. The homeless do actually help many people themselves. They can teach us humility , the importance of genuine friendship and how we can all end up on the streets by mischance. There is thought to be approximately 68,500 homeless people in Prague and the number has risen. The reasons for this rise are numerous: being made redundant, a steep rise in rent, a divorce, people fleeing domestic abuse, lack of documents, lack of skills, and the despair diseases of drug abuse and taking alcohol, people leaving prison, people with mental health problems and refugees. But it would be a mistake to perceive those people as passive. The homeless often help other people in unseen ways. There are cases where homeless people warn other people of the danger
s and risks of entering certain places,helping parents to find the location of their missing children and giving a lonely person genuine friendship. Christina, a Swedish volunteer for the homeless in Moscow, told me, "The homeless were the only people who taught me Russian".
Would a homeless person take pity and give bread to the luckless merchant? Well, I think two volunteers for a charity for the homeless in Prague would think so. Renata said, "I have had so many memorable experiences. Most of the homeless are so thankful to get a meal". Her co-volunteer Regina stated, "An immigrant from another country who was walking by the place where we were serving meals was so desperate for food that when we served him he gave me a pen which was the only thing he owned to show how grateful he was. I still treasure that pen".