Homeless

(Baonghean) - There is a very different Vinh City, behind the bright lights, the spacious high-rise buildings, the long streets with sparkling car lights... That is Vinh of the homeless - those who during the day wander the streets, do all kinds of jobs to earn a meal to stave off hunger, and at night, curl up on the sidewalk, the steps of shops, or any convenient alley or corner. I have "stepped" into that world many times, learned about the profound life stories, and had many concerns about a definitive solution to this situation...

That special world can only be accessed in the dark, or in the faint light from street lamps. Perhaps, only homeless people crave the darkness so much, because they have no place to stay, so they take refuge in the night. The locked storefronts after a busy day, after midnight, quickly become places to eat and rest for those unfortunate people. Are they vaguely afraid of the light, because of their inferiority complex, because of the scrutiny of others, or for some other reason?

One night, I sat next to an old man who was “sheltering” on the sidewalk of Phan Boi Chau Street, next to Muong Thanh Hotel. He leaned against the foot of a street lamp - where the light from above could not shine down, quietly nibbling on a packet of sticky rice that I brought, with a resigned look, not asking or questioning anything. He considered it a normal thing that any homeless person who has been through the open air and the bare ground must know how to open their hearts to receive the carefree love of strangers. His living space was only about 2 square meters, his “assets” were just plastic bags stuffed with torn winter and summer clothes, and old cotton blankets that were given to him... If it was summer, he would rest right at the foot of the lamp post, but if it was winter and cold, he would move a little further in, right behind the high wind-blocking walls of the hotel. “It’s more airy at the lamp post, but if you go into the alley it’s stuffy, and there are rats and bugs...”, he said vaguely.

A homeless person (Vinh market - Vinh city) and life on the open sky, sleeping on the ground.

She was small, her back was hunched, her skin was dark and wrinkled, and even her smile showed sadness. Like many other homeless people, she rarely talked about herself and her circumstances. It took many meetings to get a little information about her. She said her name was Hang, she was 72 years old, and she kept her hometown a secret, only snapping, "We're from the same Nghe An as you, why ask?". By piecing together the fragmented stories she told and a few additions from her homeless "neighbors", we can get a general idea of ​​the wandering fate of this rare woman past her prime.

Not knowing exactly where her hometown is, I only heard her occasionally lamenting about her "children", that her daughters married far away, in difficult circumstances, could not help her, and that her only son was a slave to her upbringing, colluding with his wife to push her out onto the street. She became a widow when she was young, working hard to raise her children alone, and when she was old, she could not bear the humiliation, so she had to leave her hometown. Ms. Hang has been wandering around this street corner for 5 years now, and before that, she had wandered around the South and the North for many years, doing all kinds of jobs to make a living. "Before, when I was still healthy, I still worked, sometimes I washed dishes for hire, sometimes I swept the market..., now I am very weak, my hands and feet are shaking and I often cough, I can't work for hire anymore. When I was healthy, I slowly picked up cans and plastic bags to sell to agents, sometimes I even begged for food...", Ms. Hang said.

So, sometimes she only ate one meal, sometimes she went hungry to get by. The food was all leftover rice and soup from cheap restaurants, and the little money she earned, Ms. Hang spent very sparingly: "Why buy medicine? I can't eat anything, I have to buy the right medicine, otherwise I won't be able to live until today". Then she said, living on the sidewalk, the most fearful thing is getting sick, the second most fearful thing is storms: "Being alone, when you're healthy, you can't "eat" anyone, when you're sick, who will take care of you, and when you die, no one will even know. When it rains, it's so miserable, you have to put on a raincoat and put a hat over your face to sleep, it's stuffy and you're afraid of catching a cold!"

The life of homeless elderly people on the streets like Ms. Hang is very painful and tormenting. In addition to the inconveniences and hardships in daily life, they also have to face countless dangers. As Ms. Hang once lamely recounted, “I have been robbed several times by some “bad guys”. He thought I was begging for money, what a lot of it, two or three hundred dong saved up but not daring to buy food, saving it for when I was sick, he took it all. I am old and cunning, I also have a “knife” ready on me, threatening to stop, but I dare not do anything!”

Despite the danger, Mr. Hang is still “luckier” than other homeless people! Luckily, despite his old age, he is still clear-headed enough to find food, shelter, take care of his health and avoid risks. Sadly, this basic “sidewalk knowledge” is absent from a homeless man living in the Fish Lake - Cua Nam area. This man speaks with a Southern accent and seems to have the most mysterious life in the homeless world in Vinh city, because he has completely lost his memory and shows signs of mental instability!

No one knew his name, nor where he came from, but just from his voice, one could guess that he was from a remote province or city in the South. He had hidden himself in a small corner, deep behind the dirt road next to Ho Ca - Cua Nam, where, for some reason, there was a temporary shack with a thatched roof like a fishing hut. A dirty parachute hammock was securely hooked to the two ends of the shack's poles, where he lay down every night. His way of communicating was mostly by making signs, nodding, or shaking his head. Occasionally, when the weather was stormy, he would wear a floppy hat, which was normally his "property" and hold it tightly to his chest, shouting loudly: "Fight!". At those times, his face lost its usual calmness, his eyes turned red, his hands grabbed something invisible and raised it high in front of his chest...

Many people around this area have witnessed that scene, at first they were a bit hesitant and scared, but later they got used to it because they saw that he did not harm anyone, and they felt more compassion for his situation of living in the open air and on the ground. Occasionally, people would help him with clothes, some cans of rice, some soup... Unfortunately, his unstable mind "tortured" that man to the point that he could not even eat like a human. I once witnessed him wandering around the lake shore, picking up dead fish, shrimp... and chewing them raw! The cans of rice that people pitied him, he also picked them up and chewed them slowly.

Entering the world of homeless people in Vinh City, it is not difficult to listen to tragic life stories, each story is different. There is Mr. Bang, around 60 years old, from Dien Chau, "permanently residing" on the sidewalk corner of Nguyen Du Street; there is Mr. Trung, 58 years old, paralyzed in one leg, begging during the day, sleeping at the main hall of Vinh Market at night; there is the blind old woman begging in the yard of Big C Supermarket; there is Ms. Hien wandering around Phan Boi Chau Street... Each person has their own personal story that leads them to that dead end, but most of them have long since decided to live a life of wandering, sleeping on the ground. During the day they wander around begging, working for hire, collecting scrap... or even petty theft, returning to their designated sleeping place at night.

That special world has unwritten “rules” that if one wants to live in peace, one must tacitly obey. These include not trespassing on each other’s “business” territory, not fighting over sleeping places, and rarely asking about the past. For young homeless women, the vagrant life is much more difficult. They often face dangers and trespasses. However, when talking to some homeless people, they said that although the vagrant life on the streets and market corners is full of uncertainties, and many of them have been admitted to social welfare centers or transferred back to their hometowns, they still run away after a short time!

The more you penetrate the world of homeless people, the more you realize the painful social reality, because homeless people wandering around the city are not only a miserable tragedy for their own lives, but also cause many unpredictable problems, disrupt security and order and affect the image of the city. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently 111 beggars and mentally ill people wandering in the province. In recent years, Nghe An province has transferred 142 cases of beggars and mentally ill people wandering to other provinces; received 64 cases of Nghe An people begging in other provinces; brought 78 people back to their families and 46 people to be raised in social protection facilities. Of which, homeless people wandering around Vinh City account for a large number and in fact, up to now, the actions to resolve this situation have not been really effective, following the "kidnapping and abandoning" model.

Therefore, in order to "eradicate" the image of homeless, vagrants, and beggars in the area, in mid-March 2015, the People's Committee of Nghe An province held a meeting to discuss a draft plan to resolve the situation of vagrants in the province for the period 2015 - 2020. Accordingly, the proposed solutions are: Focusing on and classifying subjects into 3 groups: vagrant beggars, vagrant mentally ill people, and homeless elderly, disabled, and orphans.

Chairmen of People's Committees of districts, cities and towns are responsible for directing the organization of gathering homeless people in their local management areas, directing relevant departments and offices, People's Committees of communes, wards and towns to closely coordinate in gathering and advising homeless people to return to their families or to social protection facilities; stepping up propaganda to raise awareness among people and local authorities in the prevention of homeless people; strengthening the management of population and household registration; integrating the implementation of social security policies...

At the same time, the plan to solve the problem of vagrants needs to include the classification and drastic handling of lazy people, those who take advantage of begging, and those who groom beggars. The goal is to bring 95% of homeless people, beggars, and mentally ill people wandering in the province back to their families or to social welfare facilities by 2020; coordinate with other provinces to bring about 200 vagrants back to their places of residence. That is the goal and plan, but in reality, to successfully carry out this "campaign", what is needed is more than determination and humanity in every action of each of us...

Phuong Chi