INTERVIEW WITH A STAFF MEMBER AT NOCHLEZHKA, A RUSSIAN CHARITY
“WE NEVER JUDGE!” Reported by Stephen Wilson, Moscow
“I walked to work which is two and a half hours and had to take all my things with me because you can't leave them in the Night shelter during the day. I was embarrassed to come to work at KFC without taking a shower. And at one point I just didn't make it to work. Yeah, it wasn't pretty.”' -- Dmitry, a homeless man (from the annual report of Nochlezhka, 2020).
“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
“And who thinks of what it means not to be able to have a proper wash for days and weeks on end? One's skin becomes so stiff that it stops one from making any but rough movements ,even supposing one wanted to make gentle ,loving ones - the living soul sets and hardens under the crust.’' The Man without Qualities, Robert Musil
One of the main things people tend to hold against the homeless is that they smell bad and their clothes are dirty.But people rarely stop to think that the homeless simply have nowhere to wash their clothes. Not every laundrette will let a homeless person in and ,besides, one needs to pay for it. But homeless people may not have enough money because they cannot find a job while they look this way. It is a catch 22 situation. Helping people clean themselves is one of the first steps to help them get off the street. (from the annual report of Nochlezhka, 2020).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Stephen Wilson explains: It seems strange that even the casual right to a drink of water, or access to decent water can't be taken for granted. I once dropped into a church to request a glass of water but was refused. "It is not my job to give you a glass of water," an angry person answered. I came across a homeless person who had taken refuge in the waiting room of a railways station who told me, "We don't have free access to boiling water. The vendor charges us for this." It strikes you as a surreal and absurd irony that it is abnormal to ask for water but normal to deny or refuse a homeless person a glass of water. For if a homeless person drops into a shop or office to ask for water, he might face a tirade of: "Get out of here or I'll call the police."
So when I read that the Russian charity organization Nochlezhka had launched a campaign to collect and distribute pure water to the homeless I more than warmly welcomed such news. The heat wave in Moscow over the summer was torture for many people on the streets. Many became not only dehydrated but devastated. I decided to make contact with this organization to discover what they were about it. I was amazed at how they eloquently and articulately presented their case for helping the homeless and backed up their work with proper research that debunked so many widespread myths about the homeless. They refused to judge people and actually made a great effort to help people through countless projects such as new feeding programs, clothes distribution, counseling, legal advice and attempts to launch a launderette. When I attempted to help the homeless I lost count of the number of people who told me, "Why are you wasting your time helping those people? They only have themselves to blame for their plight. They chose to be homeless. It is impossible to help them." It really was refreshing to hear someone who argued against this and eagerly sought to do something about it. The organization Nochlezhka has been around for 30 years and can draw on a wide reservoir of support of around just over 1000 volunteers and a team of professional specialists to deal with acute problems such as restoring passports, giving counseling advice and many other such services. Nobody knows the exact figure for the number of homeless in Moscow but some estimate it could range from 80,000 to 90,000.
THE INTERVIEW
I was unsure as to whether I would be granted an interview. In some organizations you can be refused on the grounds they are scared to make any statement without official approval or they might ask you to submit past articles to decide whether you can interview them or not. But Nochlezhka was relatively accessible and even enthusiastic about being interviewed. I was allowed to interview Yevgeniya Butysova, a 28 year old volunteer who seemed a gregarious, generous and deeply thoughtful person. She has worked as a volunteer for 6 years : 3 years in Saint Petersburg and 3 years in Moscow.
Streetsense
Why did you decide to help the homeless ?
Yevgeniya
I started to help them 12 years ago when I was 16. I was first helping Women's Rights and Amnesty International in Saint Petersburg. When I started to come to the meetings of Nochlezhka I liked what I had seen. I actually saw they were doing good and that Nochlezhka helps the homeless in a complete way. It is not just about giving food and completing documents for the homeless but they are doing all kinds of things for people including the mentally disabled. The homeless are really underprivileged and an under represented group in terms of everything that happens to them. Whereas people with homes have social ties, the homeless have nothing easy. They can't get documents. They can't get medicine. They can't get the right to anything. And there are a lot of stereotypes and misjudgments about the homeless. If the ambulance services see a guy doesn't have documents they might not help him. If they can't prove they have medical insurance they often can't be taken to hospital. If they are taken to hospital they are often just dumped outside the building and not admitted. It is not always the case but it happens. So you don't know whether the homeless person you called an ambulance for is admitted to hospital for treatment. The staff say "We saw this guy a week ago ,so why should we take this person to hospital again?"
In 99% of cases a homeless person can't solve problems themselves. They need help with getting documents and permission to work and so on. The homeless are one of the most underprivileged groups. That is why I became a volunteer. I have been busy with the homeless for 6 years: three years in Saint Petersburg and three years in Moscow. I have a deep empathy with the homeless. I can't quite understand those people who say "Why should we help those people? They only have themselves to blame". It is a very cruel attitude.
Streetsense
What are one of the main conceptions surrounding homeless people?
Yevgeniya
One of the main conceptions is that they are fools. They did all this themselves. But even if they did bring it on themselves it is still an inhuman attitude. Every person makes mistakes. We are not supposed to help people who make mistakes? Nochlezhka is asking questions such as "Why has this person become homeless?" Why are they homeless because there are a lot of reasons for this. And we provide statistics on this question. Nochlezhka does its own research. We found that about 30% of homelessness is due to problems with work and migration and not so much to alcoholism and drug addiction. People get addicted to alcohol after they find themselves on the streets. They mistakenly believe that they can warm themselves by drinking alcohol. Homelessness is a systemic question. It is not just one issue but many questions involving work, as well as health.
Streetsense
I have heard that many of the homeless are women and children fleeing domestic violence.
Yevgeniya
This violence is not just against women but also the elderly. There is currently no law to protect women against domestic violence in Russia. And the mentally ill people also face violence. The law doesn't help but can make the situation worse. There is a huge bureaucracy in Russia. If I lose my passport in Russia, I can get by just paying a couple of thousand rubles, and someone can send me it. But the homeless often have one document and sometimes a Soviet passport which is no longer valid. They can't get a free passport so they end up in the railway station. You have to get a photo to restore a passport. Not everyone will allow them to enter a place where you get your photo taken. May be a volunteer has to go with them to get it taken. A person in an office where they take photos might shout at him “Please leave! If you don't leave I'll call the police”. As volunteers we have social meetings for people who deal with the government section that deals with restoring passports. We need social workers to help us with this problem.
Streetsense
In the past I attempted to help some homeless people by asking for help from the church but it doesn't always work if they are not an original member of the confession.
Yevgeniya
We don't discriminate on the grounds of religion. We help anyone. We are not prejudiced against anyone. That is why we have gained huge trust from people. We are non-religious. No questions are asked about a person's religion if they approach us.
Streetsense
And how do you help the homeless?
Yevgeniya
We have a system of helping people. We have to make a plan to help a person regardless of whether they have documents or not. Social workers can help and volunteers are helping in the area to fill in forms or resumes. For example, a volunteer can help a homeless person write a C.V. or application for a job.
Streetsense
Are you going to open a new night shelter for the homeless?
Yevgeniya
It is a huge issue. We tried very hard to get this office. We only got this office last year and that was after facing a lot of opposition from surrounding businesses. Now everything is okay and people have accepted our office.
StreetSense
I noticed that a lot of the homeless are afraid, embarrassed and ashamed to ask for help. I have just met a homeless woman who told me "I am to blame. It is my fault I became homeless. I don't want to tell my family about what has happened because I feel so ashamed." So they often don't tell their relatives they are homeless or a friend.
Yevgeniya
It is a problem so we try to make the homeless feel comfortable and at home when they come to our office. There are also days where only women are allowed to turn up.
Streetwise
Do volunteers offer friendship to the homeless?
Yevgeniya
We feed the homeless and have a night bus and mobile soup kitchen. But we are not encouraged to have contact with a person because we have to feed 100 people and we have to maintain discipline. We have limited time. So it is not practical in the feeding program. Two volunteers stand outside and record how many homeless turn up. We have to record people who turn up so we can find out how much food to bring next time. The number of people coming to us is growing. We tell them not to swear and smoke. But we are friendly to people and give them warm attention. We are extremely polite to people. We equally respect people. We ask them "How can I help you? {At the consultation services} We respect them. We also organize special events which are held in December called 'Mandarinka and Tushenka' which is held in December. We have been organizing this event for 3 years. Before the event we suggest a list of things people can bring such as canned meat, flashlights and tangerines. {Tangerines symbolize the New Year in Russia.} Nochlezhka compiles a list and then we put it out at our social meetings so that people can gather and bring them. For example, we might suggest someone get 20 hygiene pads. Then we collect those things over two weeks from the 5th to the 20th of December. People can bring and give donations. Then there is one day when everything can become magical. We put everything into special backpacks and go to distribute them at the railway station. We give them it as a present and wish them a Happy New Year. We stress to them that those items are not from us but from the people of Moscow themselves! When the homeless get those gifts they can't believe it. Sometimes they have never been given a gift. It brings tears to their eyes and also some of the volunteers can't hold back tears.
We have plans to open up a rehabilitation center for the homeless in Moscow in the near future where the homeless can live for 9 months to one year. It will have a kitchen and bathroom. But we still face problems of bureaucracy. There is also a plan to create a night shelter where people will be able to stay over from 8 p.m to 8 a.m. and get hot drinks. And you won't need documents to stay there.
Streetsense
What do you think of the idea in Chicago to establish an on-line newspaper to help the homeless with their problems and raise awareness?
Yevgeniya
I think it's so awesome. It is a creative way of doing something honest for the homeless. If you do this it represents a completely different way of viewing things. I think it is a great idea not just to raise money but to help raise awareness about the problem of homelessness as a lot of people turn their heads and ignore this problem.
Streetsense
I hear so much about how the homeless often don't reach out to their families and relatives for help. How can we help them ?
Yevgeniya
The solution to a homeless problem can be just 5 minutes away by making a telephone call. I can give you a concrete example. Once we had no office or social workers. There was a guy who was homeless just out from prison. He did not have a phone but had a son he had lost contact with. One woman who was our fundraiser took the name of his son -- she went to social media and found his son. She contacted him and they were reunited. The reunion went well! The homeless person was over the moon.