“I was taken to Nochlezhka. They gave me some food right away because I was cold and hungry, and sent me to a heated tent for the night. A week later I was already admitted to the Rehabilitation Shelter on Borovaya Street. This place has become my home. I remember my life starting from 1996. I found myself in St. Petersburg, on a bench near Kazan Cathedral. This is where I met my beloved husband. I don't remember where I am from though. After my husband died and several years on the street, I got to Nochlezhka. There is even something of a goal now,” stated Olga Nikolaevna.
Olga Nikolaevna Krasota suffers from retrograde amnesia. This is terrible affliction where damage to parts of the brain linked to memory function results in the patient forgetting previous parts of their life before falling ill. The patient can forget their own names, origins and the faces of relatives and friends. The damage can be permanent or temporarily. It is a devastating illness that strikes at the very core of a person's identity!
What is certain is that Olga was born in Moscow, moved away from it, fell in love, married, and later lost her partner. Although she has spent a quarter of her life in St. Petersburg, she does not remember how she ended up in the city. She is without any documents. After her husband died, she became homeless.
Olga Nikolaevna is just one of the many unhoused of St. Petersburg. Although official figures estimate the homeless in St. Petersburg at 6000, the real figures are perhaps 10 times higher coming to 60,000!
The discrepancy between official and unofficial estimates indicates how the authorities prefer to play down the scale and serious depth of the problem. Although the common stereotype of the homeless tends to be people who are alcoholics, drug addicts, and victims of real estate fraud, the complex case of Olga Nikolaevna should make presumptuous critics pause and question their assumptions.
The City of St. Petersburg is not the best city to find yourself homeless given a very windy, humid and inhospitable climate. But the homeless are hardly the first people who did not want to be on the streets of this city to brave the unforgiving harsh elements. The majority of people in Russia expressed strong reluctance to settle in St. Petersburg from its birth in 1703. The people in Moscow for good reasons disliked the unhealthy climate and location in contrast to the milder climate in Moscow.
Peter the Great, ruthlessly forced people to come and settle in the city to fulfill his obsessive vision of reaching the sea and providing a base for a new navy. When his boon companion General Patrick Gordon tried to dissuade him from his ambition to build a city on such infested and inhospitable bogs by claiming, “Why do we need to build ships when we have no access to the sea?” Peter the Great retorted, 'Build ships then we will find access to the sea.'
Tourists who fall in love with the city can be forgiven for expressing surprise that so many people initially sought to avoid settling in this city. There is no doubt a quaint charm and spell about the city...
You could spend days strolling around the city gazing at the wonderful palaces, towers, canals, and bridges of the city.
When I first crept into the city and walked over the River Neva at 5 a.m. I was struck by one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever witnessed. The grey clouds were creased with crimson, purple and yellow lines which resembled a magic carpet. It would take an exceptional artist to capture such beauty.
Unfortunately, often the gates of hell resemble paradise. According to the figures of Nochlezhka, {a charity which aids the homeless} as many as 1005 homeless died in 2022. Here, the unhoused on average are more likely to die 16 years earlier than people who have a home.
Despite attempts to raise awareness among people of how acute the problem of homelessness is in the city, very little state assistance, if any, is provided by the local authorities or state.
Helping the homeless is not prioritized by the government. Instead, charities are left to fill up this void. This tendency for local resources from charities having to serve people because of zero help from the government is unfortunately a pattern seen throughout the world.
While assistance for the unhoused is urgently required, it can only put a few plasters or bandages on what is a deep festering wound. Despite sincere intentions and a persistent effort by charities, the figures continue to rise and many people die. The rehabilitation shelter run by Nochlezhka can provide regular meals, sleep, and some support to obtain medical aid, but it can only accommodate up to 52 people: 40 men and 12 women. This is a tiny drop in an unsteady and swaying ocean. The charity has very limited resources.
Since 2007, the charity provides heated tents which can cater for approximately 36-50 people. Those tents offer a place of warmth, security, and comfort during the often bitter cold nights in St. Petersburg.
According to the charity, “'People should not die from the cold on the streets and become disabled from frostbite. If a person has nowhere to go , they can come and stay in one of our heated tents, no certificates or papers required, have dinner and breakfast, receive medical care and primary social counselling.”
The night shelter can at least provide some urgent assistance which saves a person's life. According to one homeless man called Yuri: “I heard about the night shelter a while ago; everyone knows about it. It was the police who told me about it. I do nothing much when I'm there, I just rest, since I get very tired by the end of the day. I have a meal and sleep. Sometimes, I get to find out where I can do some work or some other practical information. Otherwise, it is just good to have a place and have a shower. I t's a good thing this shelter exists.”
The charity also runs a night bus which offers hot meals to many of the homeless. It is interesting to point out the different kinds of people who queue for help. Each homeless person has a very unique and exceptional personality which neither stereotypes nor official statistics can ever hope to capture. And the more you hear the homeless tell the stories about their lives, the more you realize how unlucky anyone can become. Most of the homeless just seek to return to a relatively normal life where they have a room of their own, reliable access to food, and decent work.
It is instructive to hear the words of a driver of the Night Bus in St Petersburg Konstantiv Fomichev. He stated that:
“Some people coming to the night bus speak foreign languages, have read a lot, and are generally stunning. We have a former ballerina, for example, coming for a meal. She even positions her feet like a ballet dancer. There are athletes too. They ask me where I did my military service and what sport I did. I tell them I did 4 years of boxing. And this person goes, 'Oh really? Me too!' They are living a tough life and so they start dreaming of their past. I am not a psychologist, but I think it's good to remember that you had something other than grief and sorrow in the past.”
Let's hope that Olga Nikolaevna rediscovers her past and recovers from retrograde amnesia. And with some time, she and other homeless will cherish not only happier moments in the past but be allowed to realize a much better future.
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Acknowledged source –
2021 Report of “Nochlezhka,” Published in Moscow.