Like winter, this is how conversations begin: whether or not to feed the homeless on the street. But we’d better tell you about how and what their lunches are prepared from, and how tea is made for them.
...By one o’clock in the afternoon I arrived at Derbenevskaya Street: here the Christian cultural center “Vstrecha” gave shelter to our volunteer group helping homeless people of the “Danilovtsy” movement. I mean, he allocated his kitchen for our needs, in which the group coordinator Dima Ivanin and his volunteers prepare a hot dinner every Saturday for our homeless charges from the Paveletsky station.
Today Yura is the chef: this is one of the group’s traditions, every time someone becomes the chef. He thinks through what products need to be purchased in advance and commands the process. Chicken soup on the menu today vegetable salad and hot tea. Volunteers brought in bags of food, the process began: there was a giant (32 liter) pot of water on the stove, volunteers peeled onions, carrots and potatoes, cut cucumbers, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage and red bell peppers for salad. There is a general conversation - how are you doing, who went to what movie or what you read recently. Dima includes an audio lecture “A meeting that can change your life.” It is read by the Italian Alessandro Salacone, a representative of the world-famous Roman Community of St. Egidio in Moscow. He speaks Russian amazingly well, his thoughts are simple and unexpected, making you look at familiar things differently.
There are about 10 volunteers, they change during the process - someone leaves, others replace them. It’s half past five, it’s time to leave: a pack of black tea is poured into a giant antique teapot, seasonings, salt and herbs are added to the soup. It smells fragrant, like home. Salad is packaged in plastic containers, and bread, cookies and sweets are placed in small bags. All this is loaded into bags. Yura and Ibrahim pour the soup into three large plastic blue buckets with lids. And now the provisions are taken to the dressing room, we are in outerwear and are ready to move out. Volunteer Sasha came to help in his personal car. I often meet him in our various volunteer groups - in an orphanage at a boarding school for mentally retarded children, in charity repairs, at Christmas and Easter dinners, and he helps to deliver and bring something from the Danilovtsy office.
The point where our volunteers meet with homeless people is located near the exit from the Paveletskaya metro station on Novokuznetskaya opposite the station. Saturday evening, snowflakes are spinning in the warm light of the street lamps. It’s warm, the snow is wet, the road is icy. Near the point stands one of the wards - large, middle-aged, with a thick beard. “It’s you, right? Now I’ll tell our people, they’re waiting in the passage.” Men approach, two or three at a time. One, slightly tipsy, happily starts a dialogue with Ibrahim.
Ibrahim lives not far from here. One day he was walking home, saw us, but didn’t come up. Then I looked on the Internet to find out who was helping the homeless near Paveletsky. Then I went to meet him in person. That’s how I got into the group, but it helps not only here.
Homeless Vitalik complains that he has been walking with wet feet for four days now and has nowhere to dry. I remember the “House of Friends on the Street,” which opened quite recently. I write their address and phone number, but the snow quickly wets the notebook paper and blurs the letters. Someone calls Vitalik on his cell phone. This is not a smartphone; its buttons glow in bright ultramarine. He busily explains something to his invisible interlocutor, says goodbye to him, and then says that he fought in the Donbass, that he came here to work, but something went wrong... And it’s good that at least we come. There are large tears in his eyes.
People come and go and surround the folding plastic table. Coordinator Dima Ivanin calls everyone to order and explains the rules. He distributes numbers first to women (“ladies,” as Dima calls them), then to men. I will give three times less women than men. There's a young brunette here, clearly drinking. She is nervous, she wants to hurry up. There is a round-faced woman in a headscarf, she will take a double portion - later a girl of about nine came to her. There are middle-aged women, there are older women and very old women. Everyone is dressed neatly, many are clean. Seeing them on the street, you wouldn’t even think that they were homeless or in great need... Coming here, what I was most afraid of was the bad smell. But this specific smell - an unwashed body, sewage, sweat, illness, the smell of trouble - is almost not felt, despite the fact that our charges are just a step away from us.
The men are different - many are middle-aged, there are also a couple of young ones. Shaggy, bearded. Some of the men are badly beaten by life on the street - their facial features are rough, swollen from drinking, their hands are rough with bent fingers, with dark nails, and they smell of fumes. But there are faces and bright, and clear eyes. They walk past us in a line on the other side of the table. And on this side there is a conveyor belt of volunteers: the first one pours the soup into a large plastic glass, Yulia gives the salad, Ibrahim gives the fork, I put a bag of bread and candy on top. The ward takes the soup in a glass in one hand, and I put the salad and bread in his bag or bag. It’s rare that anyone doesn’t have a bag or bag. What are the important needs of those worn out bags? They, like us humans, live in the same world as us. But how differently their lives are structured! And what would I put in the bag if I had to live at a train station in winter?
I spent one and a half to two hours on the street. Tights, socks and fur-lined shoes did not save me from the cold. The gloves and hat were completely soaked, and the down jacket was wet on top. I went into the warm, bright subway and quickly warmed up. I got home, hung up my clothes to dry, drank hot tea, and ate something delicious. I'm sitting at the computer, writing. Then I’ll lie in the bathroom, then go to a warm bed. And I am ashamed that, unlike our charges from the Paveletsky station, I was happily spared from unknown trials of cold, hunger, lack of sleep, illness, humiliation and, God knows, what else...
Perhaps, I console myself, not all of them are homeless, but simply extremely poor. Perhaps someone has a bed, a bath, and the ability to dry clothes. But the other part is definitely devoid of this! Deprived of what many of us take for granted. But is there so much personal merit in this cozy position of ours? And is there not enough of a series of good coincidences in this? Vitaly told me: “You see, I would just like to lie down and sleep normally. Just sleep, you know?” And large tears appeared in his eyes again. I nodded. Well, what could I answer him? That I can’t even imagine even the slightest part of the trials that befell him?
Someone thanked us. Few, yes, but warm and sincere. Some simply nodded, while others took it silently and gave way to the next ones. And some were dissatisfied - but give me more bread, but not the white one, but why no candy, no, I don’t need that... It seems that the attitude towards the world does not depend in any way on social status.
After the meal, the distribution of soap, shampoo, disposable razors, warm clothes and socks began. With each new approach to our table, discipline was weakened more and more, and at the distribution of socks and things, chaos defeated the order established by Dima. Homeless people were already not only on that side of the table, but also on this side, trying to somehow bypass their comrades to talk with other volunteers and get what they needed without queuing.
The volunteers were frozen, behind us was a pile of empty buckets and bags, everything covered with wet snow, and in front of us was an empty plastic table. The wards disperse, one by one and in groups. Volunteers are also gathering. It’s half past eight, but this is not the end of a long day: we need to go back and wash the dishes.
We will help homeless people all winter. With your 100 rubles we can buy 3-4 kg of potatoes and carrots, fresh bread. Donate just 100 rubles to us and we will buy them socks and help them survive another day.
Yulia Gusakova, volunteer, coordinator of the educational project “
Once, while in Moscow, I was coming out of the passage from the metro station to the Paveletsky station. And suddenly I heard loud music. Ahead of me walked a man who looked like a homeless man; in his hands he had an antediluvian transistor with a long antenna, and he himself sang along to something to this music. And so, overtaking this man, I saw...
How can I tell you... Without any details, my face is disfigured by a terrible tumor. Half of the face is destroyed. Very scary, very scary.
The coolness of the court reporter did not help me, and could not help me, since it is my own mental defense invention. I had a real - not to say so - shock. I couldn't look into that face. I looked at the hand in which I was placing the fifty-kopeck piece of paper - the hand was dirty, of course, but not terrible. The man expressed satisfaction with the alms he received and said something like “Wow, okay!” And I quickly rushed away from him to the station.
Of course, my fifty dollars will not help him, and in general, I am practically unable to help him. But for some reason it seemed to me that if I had found the strength to calmly, without shuddering, look into his face, speak to him, ask at least his name, promise to pray for him - something so torn in the Universe would have grown back together ...
I remembered one of the stories about Dr. Haas: he had a patient, a peasant girl, also with a face disfigured by a tumor - even her own mother could not approach this girl, and Dr. Haas sat next to her days and nights, told her fairy tales and kissed her . That is, until she died.
In order to help a person, you need to accept him in the situation in which he is, that is, accept his situation to the end. As long as we push this person away from us, defend ourselves from him, do not accept his situation - no matter what this defense of ours is connected with, we can not only talk about physical deformity - we will not help this person.
How does a person live whom no one, or almost no one, can just look at? How did he end up in this position - probably on the street?.. Maybe his family turned away from him, maybe his wife left him? Well, I couldn’t stand it... I don’t know. To assume that “it’s all his own fault” and “they don’t abandon good people” is the easiest thing for us in such a case.
I turned away... What if I didn't have the opportunity to look away? What if a person with such a face turned out to be, for example, my neighbor in a compartment on a train? And if I were some kind of official, and such a disabled person - let him not be homeless! - would you come to see me?.. Let’s also take into account the smell... I remember how one day an elderly and not quite adequate woman with cancer came to our editorial office - we didn’t know what to do...
Well, if you cannot turn away from this person and run away, I told myself, this means that you have no choice - you will have to make a supernormal mental effort, step over the natural psychological reaction.
What does it mean - no choice? Since childhood, we have been reading books about war. But it’s unlikely that any of us today (except for those who went through “hot spots”) imagine what it’s like to stand up and go on the attack under fire.
We periodically read or hear about someone's courage in a fire - but we, again, with a few exceptions among our number, cannot imagine what it is like: to stand in front of a burning house in which children are screaming, and understand that you have there is no choice - if you are a person, you have to go there, into the smoke and flames. Not “if you are a hero”, but simply - if you are a person. There is no choice, because not being human is impossible and unthinkable.
It's all scary! This all requires supernatural behavior. A meeting with a sick, cruelly disfigured person is the same, although it is somewhat different.
Of course, my situation - a quick, random encounter in a passage - allowed for compromise, it was not extreme for me; from a universal human point of view, she did not demand anything from me at all. But it wasn’t a coincidence either, I’m sure of that.
The Lord showed me that from me, too, like from any other person, more may one day be required; that I too may find myself faced with the need to do something supernatural, something that is so easy to read about - and which is so incredibly difficult to do in reality. It is difficult, and at the same time, absolutely necessary...
On the screen saver: photo fragment on
Near the Paveletsky railway station, hundreds of so-called homeless people - people who live on the streets - huddle in the alleys day and night. We got into a conversation with one of them, Nikolai Baluev. At first he didn’t want to answer questions or be photographed. But, having received 200 rubles as a “fee,” he perked up and told such a sad story about himself.
Kolya is 30 years old. Just a year and a half ago he lived in Yelets and was quite happy. He worked at a local mechanical plant as a turner, had a wife and son. And suddenly there was a layoff at the plant, and Kolya found himself on the street. I couldn’t find a job in Yelets, so I went to Moscow to work. Here he got a job at the Grand construction company, made good money, and sent money to his family. But one day he managed to end up in a sobering-up station. Absence from work, a scandal, and the guy ended up on the street again. He never came out of this dive. He started begging and drinking “mutter”. Lived on the street. Last winter I got frostbite on my feet. The ambulance took him to the hospital. There his toes were amputated. After his recovery, the priest of the local church, who cared for the hospital patients, took Kolya to a shelter for homeless disabled people. There they bought him a ticket to Yelets and sent him home.
- But who needs an unemployed disabled person? - Kolya recalls bitterly. — My wife can barely make ends meet herself. She tormented me for a week and kicked me out. I went back to the orphanage. But they didn’t accept me there. They said that if I had a Moscow registration, then there would be no problem. I found myself on the street again.
Colin's house today is a tram stop near the Paveletsky station. This is where he spends the night. He sits here during the day, waiting for handouts from compassionate passers-by.
“It used to be good,” recalls Kolya. — The bench at the bus stop was wooden, warm. Recently they changed it to metal, and even with holes, apparently so that people like me wouldn’t stay too long. Now it's quite cold at night. Apparently I won't survive the winter. Well, good. I heard that when you freeze, you experience pleasant sensations. I haven't experienced anything pleasant for a long time...
Baba Lyuba lives under the fence next to Kolya. She built herself a pedestal from paper trash, on which she sleeps at night and during the day she just sits, reading old newspapers that she pulls out from the collected trash. She did not agree to talk for any money. Janitor Valya said:
— Baba Lyuba has been living here since May. Where she comes from and who she is is unknown. One day the police took her to a shelter. But soon Baba Lyuba returned and again settled on a pile of paper waste. Here she has a bedroom, a dining room, and a toilet. We have a lot of them here. I feel sorry for the people. What to do with them?
According to unofficial data, today there are more than 4 million homeless people in Russia, of which 100 thousand are trying to survive in the capital. State authorities do not keep such statistics, but for some reason they consider these figures to be greatly inflated. Head of the Department of Social Assistance to Homeless Citizens of the Department social protection city of Moscow Andrey Pentyukhov says:
— It is necessary to separate people without a fixed place of residence, who for one reason or another have lost their housing, and ordinary vagabonds. Homeless people who previously lived in Moscow can count on support. We will help you restore documents, temporarily place you in a hotel, provide medical care, register for disability and pension, and find employment, including the provision of housing. For those who are wandering, but at the same time have housing somewhere in the province, we can only buy a train ticket home.
For people who find themselves in difficult life situations, there are now 8 social hotels in the capital. It can accommodate about a thousand people. And the shelters are located mainly in remote residential areas - Kosino-Ukhtomsky, Lyublino... They will leave anyone there for one night: they will feed and warm them. But only after providing a certificate of sanitary treatment and medical examination. Doctors see homeless people in Moscow at the first-aid post on Nizhny Susalny Lane, building 4, in clinic No. 7. There is also a sanitary checkpoint nearby (and there are 5 of them in Moscow).
To stay in a shelter longer, you need an extract from the house register confirming that the person once lived in the capital. The homeless people who arrive will not be kept for long.
Food for the homeless and vagrants in the capital is a little easier. To eat for free, you do not need any certificates or documents. You can get a hot lunch at the same sanitary checkpoints and in 16 churches in the capital. Somewhere they feed every day, somewhere twice a week.
If getting somewhere is difficult, you can spend the night on a special bus. During the cold season, every night the car of the Orthodox charity organization “Mercy” collects homeless people from the Garden Ring and the area of three stations. The tramps on the bus are given food, medical care, clean clothes and are allowed to spend the night in the cabin.
“One doctor with an ambulance, having breathed in our bus spirit, fell down with catarrh of the upper respiratory tract the next morning,” says the head of the bus service, Deacon Oleg Vyshinsky, “and the people working in this service are far from pampered. Our bus can accommodate about 30 people, and a whole team of doctors can be called to each one.
More than half of the homeless people who turn to Mercy for help are not legally homeless. They have housing and registration, but they do not live there. Some were kicked out of their homes by relatives, others lost their jobs and moved to Moscow. More than half of the homeless in Moscow are visitors from different regions of Russia.
“We don’t bother them much,” says police sergeant Anatoly Lobanov. — They don’t break the law, what should we take from them? Articles for vagrancy and begging have long been abolished. I can only wake up a homeless person sleeping somewhere on a bench so that he leaves and does not embarrass people with his appearance. And in severe frosts, we are ordered to call an ambulance for freezing homeless people.
Moscow social services cannot help the “limit homeless” in any way. Just feed them, give them clean clothes and new shoes and send them home. It is up to local services to adapt him to life in society. But there are simply no such people in small Russian cities, just as there are no jobs or social housing. And the tramps return back to Moscow.
Help "SP"
There are only 8 shelters for homeless people in Moscow. But, according to the “Tender Beast” charity foundation, there are more than a dozen shelters for stray dogs in the capital. Moscow authorities promise to build 15 new shelters for homeless animals in the capital by next spring. Shelters will appear in all districts except Central. At the same time, as many as three shelters will be built in the northeast. The largest will be located in the southeastern district. It will be able to simultaneously accommodate up to 4,500 stray animals. All this is good, but we also need to worry about people.
Shelter addresses:
Social hotel "Marfino" (Gostinichny proezd, 8a, nearest metro station "Vladykino", tel. 482−33−59).
Social hotel "Vostryakovo" (Matrosova str., 4, access from Kievsky railway station, tel. 439−16−96).
Center for Social Adaptation “Lublino” (Ilovayskaya St., 2, passage from the Tekstilshchiki platform, tel. 357−10−65).
Social hotel South-Western Administrative District (Novoyasenevsky Prospekt, 1, building 3, nearest metro station “Teply Stan”, tel. 427−95−70)
Night stay house of the North-Western Administrative District (3rd Silikatny proezd, 4, building 1, nearest metro station “Polezhaevskaya”, tel. 191−75−90).
Night stay house “Kosino-Ukhtomsky” (Mikhelson str., 6, passage from the Vykhino platform, tel. 700−52−35).
State institution for foreign citizens with children “Kanatchikovo” (Kanatchikovsky proezd, 7, nearest metro station “Leninsky Prospekt”, tel. 952−38−40).
Center for social adaptation "Filimonki" for the disabled, the elderly and people with minor children (Moscow region, Leninsky district, Filimonki village, tel. 777−70−00, ext. 5732).
Where can I get sanitized?
Nizhny Susalny Lane, 4
Izhorskaya st., 21
Yaroslavskoe highway, 9
Gilyarovskogo, 65, building 3
Kuryanovsky Blvd., 2/24
In winter, homeless citizens especially need medical care, sanitation and warm clothing. The city's social services are intensifying their work on the city streets. In Moscow, the Mobile Service for Helping Homeless Citizens “Social Patrol”, created on the basis of the Center for Social Adaptation named after. E. Glinka.
If you see a homeless citizen in need of help, call the 24-hour hotline of the Social Patrol Mobile Service at: 8-495-720-15-08, 8-499-357-01-80 (round the clock).
Social assistance institutions for homeless citizens:
State government institution of the city of Moscow “Center for Social Adaptation for Persons Without a Fixed Place of Residence and Occupation” E.P. Glinka"
Address: Moscow, st. Ilovaiskaya, 2 (South-Eastern Administrative District), st. metro stations "Bratislavskaya", "Maryino", platform "Pererva".
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
Reception department:
Medical assistance department
Address: Moscow, Nizhny Susalny lane, 4a (TsAO), st. m. "Kurskaya".
Opening hours: 9:00 - 16:45 (except Sundays and holidays).
Territorial branches of the State Public Institution CSA named after. E.P. Glinka
Marfino branch
Address: 127106, Moscow, Gostinichny pr-d, 8, building 2 (NEAD), art. m. "Vladykino".
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
Branch "Kosino-Ukhtomskoe"
Address: Moscow, st. Mikhelson, 6 (VAO), st. m. "Vykhino", electric train station "Kosino".
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
Yasenevo branch
Address: Moscow, Novoyasenevsky Prospekt, 1, building 3 (South-Western Administrative District), art. m. "Teply Stan".
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
Branch "Pokrovskoe-Streshnevo"(reception and distribution of charitable assistance)
Address: Moscow, st. Meshcheryakova, 4, bldg. 2 (SZAO), art. m. "Skhodnenskaya".
Opening hours: 09.00 - 18.00.
Vostryakovo branch
Address: Moscow, st. Matrosova, 4 (ZAO), st. "Yugo-Zapadnaya" metro station, "Skolkovo" electric train station.
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
Dmitrovskoe branch
Address: Moscow, st. Izhorskaya, 21, building 3 (SAO), art. m. "Petrovsko-Razumovskaya".
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
“Center for Social Adaptation for Homeless Citizens at the State Budgetary Institution of Moscow “Psychoneurological Boarding School No. 5”
Address: Moscow, Filimonkovskoye settlement, pos. Filimonki, st. m. "Salaryevo".
Opening hours: 24 hours a day.
Mobile heating points
During the cold season, Mobile heating points (storage buses) are on duty every day in the areas adjacent to Moscow train stations.
Opening hours: from 11.00 to 18.00 and from 21.00 to 6.00.
Parking lots of Mobile heating points in daytime and night time:
- Behind the Yaroslavsky railway station near the Emergency Social Assistance Point.
- Kursky Station - inside the tram circle near the tram stop not far from the exit from the Chkalovskaya metro station.
- Paveletsky station - st. Dubininskaya, 2.
- Kyiv railway station - Berezhkovskaya embankment, 14.
- Belorussky Station - Gruzinsky Val, 11.
- Emergency social assistance point - st. Krasnoprudnaya, ownership 3/5. Providing urgent social services in the form of heating and consultations by center specialists.
Reception hours for specialists are from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Tuesday - legal advisor;
Wednesday - employment specialist;
Thursday - psychologist.
Attention! Parking locations for mobile heating units may change.
My education is secondary technical, I graduated from a vocational school. He worked as a builder all his life, until the collapse Soviet Union- in the same office. Then all the enterprises collapsed, and I began to look for work on my own. I traveled to different cities to work, and disappeared somewhere all the time.
Then my health began to deteriorate. From heavy physical labor the joints simply fall apart. It became unbearable to work. From time to time I did some slacking somewhere else, tried to work in the forest, but it didn’t work out. I just didn't have the strength. And they don’t take a disabled person my age anywhere.
In Moscow I lived in an apartment with my wife and children. But since I was constantly leaving for other cities, contact with them was lost. We didn't quarrel, we just stopped communicating. My wife apparently doesn’t care about me. They say that a woman cannot live without a husband - maybe she already has another man. I don't care. And the children don’t know that I’m homeless. I call them periodically and tell them that I left for another city to work. I'm lying, that is.
The decision to go outside came on its own. I decided not to disturb the children anymore and went outside. I felt that I was not needed by my family. And they probably didn’t notice my disappearance and have no idea that I live on the street. I immediately decided that I would never return home again. And in three years I never spent the night in my apartment. There are no friends left either. Someone died, something happened to others too. I couldn't go to anyone. If I had friends, they would help.
The first thing I did on the street was think about where to spend the night and get food. He began to beg for alms and learned to earn extra money. It turned out that you can earn extra money almost always and everywhere. For example, if you sweep next to a tent, you’ll get a pretty penny from the seller. Or help someone with housework. I limp, it’s difficult to work with my legs, but what can I do?
I spend the night in social center"Lublino" According to the law, you can only stay there for three nights in a row, but in winter they are allowed in every night. You sleep there until the morning, and then go wherever you want. You need to be outside all day. But we somehow manage. Now I’m wearing a real sheepskin coat, they gave it to me. In principle, there are no problems with things - they give a lot away. Today they gave me warm trousers - I’ll wear them tomorrow. The only problem is that there is nowhere to store things. In the summer you undress and throw away your old clothes.
In winter it’s still cold in any clothes. We go down to warm up in the metro. You sit on the roundabout and you’re on your way. Nobody is driving us out of there. But you can only stay there until one in the morning. We don’t go into the entrances - there are people there, and they don’t like us. You can linger in the entrances only if you behave in an exemplary manner.
We eat whatever we have, almost always dry food. Even if social assistance provides some food, it is cold. You can eat hot food only if the church feeds you or you earn money for it yourself. By the way, they are allowed into stores without any problems. Why shouldn't they let us in?
The problem is what to store there is no place for things. In the summer you undress
and old things you throw it away. in winter
it's still cold
in any clothes
Because of this diet, my stomach hurts constantly. I don’t know what I have - pancreatitis, cystitis or gastritis. Maybe an ulcer. At the social center they give us pills, but they don’t always help. We relieve ourselves in the “blue booths” or in the toilets at train stations. Not for free, of course, but for money. But if he grabs it, we can sit on the street. But, of course, in some place that is not too crowded. We understand everything, but we are embarrassed.
Because of my stomach, I don't drink alcohol at all. But if I felt normal, I would definitely drink. How can you not drink in the cold? If you try to walk down the street all day at minus 10, you will also want to. That's why all the homeless people drink. Maybe alcohol warms you up for a short time, but how else can you warm up? Moreover, if someone starts drinking, they rarely stop until they fall asleep right on the street.
With hygiene special problems No. You can wash yourself at Kursky Station, on the Severyanin platform. There is frying, steaming, you can go there for free every day. I go here often. Don't look that I'm unshaven - I let it go for style. They also provide shaving machines there. And you can get a haircut at Paveletsky Station. Hairdressers are trained there and they practice on our heads.
I usually spend time in the company of two or three homeless people like me. It’s always more fun and easier to get food in a team. Is there love among the homeless? I guess it's yes. But it’s better to ask the young people - we are already old, where should we go? And young people under the influence of alcohol all fall in love with each other. But in general there are not very many young people among the homeless. Mostly only visitors who are looking for a job and a happy life. If they don’t find it, they join us. I do not understand them. They can achieve everything, but they don’t want to. They want to drink and have fun. Why are they going this way?
I have a desire to return to normal life, but there is no way. I can't go back to my family. There are sayings: “You can’t mend a broken cup” and “They don’t dance backwards.” I'm no longer interested in this. Once you live with me, you will understand why interest disappears. Life is like this - what it is like for us, what it is for you, young people.
Woman
I'm homeless for the second time. Alcohol is to blame for everything. The first time I started drinking was when I buried my third husband. I felt sorry for myself, I couldn’t understand why I was so unlucky. Gradually she contacted the tramps and went out into the street herself, but returned home quite quickly. My house is in Oryol region. But then my mother died. And my father then reproached me for eating his bread. I freaked out and told him: “I’ll leave and find a piece of bread for myself.”
I went to Livny, which is also in the Oryol region. I lived there in an apartment, everything was fine, although there was no gas or electricity. Somehow we connected. I got involved with drunks again. And then I got tired of it. Among the tramps I met one Skalozub - that was his nickname, he had just been released after serving time for murder. He invited me to go to Moscow. And I agreed because, to be honest, I drank. We arrived in the capital, and then Skalozub immediately abandoned me. But I had a lot of friends here. Everyone is a tramp, but good people. They say: “Whoever offends you, tell me, no one here dares lay a finger on us.”
For some time I was homeless and drank in Moscow, and then got a job at a center for the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts in Alabino to work in the kitchen. I did well, especially the pancakes and pancakes. The boss consulted me all the time about what to buy. But some holidays came - and I went to Moscow for the weekend. I met friends and comrades here, money in my pocket - and away we go. I called Alabino and said that I was leaving home. Which “home”? This street is my home. I'm a fool myself. If I hadn’t been drinking, I would still be living there.
How long has it been since I left Alabino? I do not remember. I don't remember at all. But I almost stopped drinking. Of course, when it’s cold, I drink. And when I don’t want to, I don’t drink. Recently I was standing on the Paveletskaya roundabout. I see two men just shaking. I say: “What do you guys want to do with a hangover?” - “Why, do you have money?” - “While there is.” I took them a bottle. They offered to join. I say: “Leave me alone! Drink and get a hangover." I understood their condition. I went through this school myself. How many people have died from such a hangover?
I got money from collected alms. Women are usually served more than men. It’s not clear from him (points to the first interlocutor of The Village) that he is limping. That's why everyone thinks that, man, he could find a job. And women are treated more leniently. Therefore, it is easier for us to earn money.
But in general there is no help from anyone, just questions. It would be good if they would accept you somewhere at least for the night. But then still walk around the city. The food is brought cold. When you don't have a penny, you can go without hot food for several days. Buy a pie, okay?
I spend the night wherever I have to. You'll make an agreement here, then there. Today I spent the night at Domodedovo airport. I paid 17 rubles 50 kopecks to the cashier and they let me into the waiting room. Completely sober, calm, cleanly dressed, I slept there until the morning. In the morning I went to the toilet, washed my face and went back to the city. I wanted to buy tea at the airport, but it costs 40 rubles there. Who is this for anyway?
I already received a scratch on my nose this afternoon. I can barely walk either, I sprained my ankle and rubbed against the fence. No, fights between homeless people rarely happen. Only if drunk and between young people. What do we old people have to share?
I would give anything just to return home. I swear, I will eat the earth - just to leave this damned Moscow. This is some kind of utopia. Whoever gets here will see no good. How many times have I been robbed here? 10 thousand was stolen once, can you imagine? It’s good that I left my passport in Orel.
I have a believing brother, sister, two daughters, a son, and three grandchildren there. Father may still be alive. Maybe the son is already married. I’ve been here for almost five years now, everything could have changed. But I don't know anything about my family. If my relatives knew that I was here, broken, they would take me away. They may be looking for me, but they can't find me. I'm here and there. But I can’t leave myself, I have no money. And then there's this drink. That's what's ruining me. At least I could get a job in a monastery somewhere. I swear I would quit drinking. I would no longer be drawn to the street. All I want is to bow to God. Or the old lady would have taken in someone to look after her. Only I don’t have a passport or Moscow registration. But I just can’t do it anymore. Either I'll die here or something.
Illustration: Masha Shishova
