"It's easier for you to die": How I became homeless. How do they become homeless? How people become homeless

My current job has answered me this question, which I also asked myself once.

How can an ordinary, mentally and socially healthy person become homeless? Well, how ?!

The statistics are terrifying: most of the adult homeless are elderly people who, against their will, found themselves in such a situation.

Very often they are kicked out by children. Often old people end up in a hospital, and after leaving it, returning home, they find that strangers live in their former home.

With the worsening economic situation in the country, these same old people are increasingly becoming victims of real estate fraud.

A fairly large number of homeless adults are people with physical disabilities or mental disorders. This is their weakness and are used by those who coveted their housing.

There is also a category of adults who have left places of imprisonment. And already in freedom they are left with nothing, housing is not provided to them and there is no real opportunity for a previously convicted person to get it, or find a job (so that later to rent a house).

As for homeless youth and children. About seven years ago, the situation was extremely sad. A huge number of children fled from orphanages and boarding schools, and lived on the street - in hatches, abandoned destroyed houses, basements, yards, entrances. This problem was so acute that a huge number of public and charitable organizations threw their efforts to solve it. Volunteers went down the hatches, won the trust of the little wolf cubs, lived with them, trying and still finding an approach to them. This yielded results and after a while the children left their shelters, they were returned to institutions, they were arranged in families, and the optimal solution was found for them.

The problem of child homelessness was gradually resolved, but not only thanks to the efforts of the organizations. The children have grown up. And now, along with the problem of adult homelessness, there is the issue of adolescence. Graduates of boarding schools, faced with the adult world, are absolutely not prepared for it: they do not know how to manage money, often do not know how to cook elementary, and many do not have any sex education. They quickly spend their scholarship money, they are kicked out of hostels and technical schools, they start stealing and prostitution in order to somehow feed themselves. Some girls graduating from boarding schools simply do not understand why they have such a big belly, at a time when it’s time to give birth soon.

The most widespread myth is that alcoholics and drug addicts become homeless. Of course, this percentage is present. But much more often a person gets drunk and falls into hard drugs while on the street.

And by the way, there is a very small percentage of those who suffer from the so-called "homeless syndrome" - a person just wants to live on the street, he does not need a house. But I think you understand that there are only a few such people.

How do you get out of this? This is an incredible job of reintegrating into society, resocialization, and it is very important that in this process there is someone who will help you not to come back. Working with each is individual. The likelihood that a person will be able to get out of this situation on their own and without anyone's help is negligible. But, the most important thing is that the person wants it.

For us, they all look the same. Old people - regardless of age, fat from a large number of ridiculous clothes put on themselves, with always tinkling bags in their hands. But these people are very different. Some of them had quite a prosperous life until recently. With a passport and a home. Tatyana KOSIK, a member of the Orthodox group for helping the homeless, spoke about several of her wards.

Remember the Pope
Almost every department has a ward where homeless vagrants are assigned. As a rule, she becomes the shabby and squalid. There are no presents on the bedside tables, only an empty glass and a dried piece of hospital bread.
Aleksey Gorshkov has been in one of these wards in the surgery department of hospital No. 53 for several months. While lying down, he managed to grow a beard, he himself is reddish, with high cheekbones. He tells about his life with philosophical calmness: “just before the New Year they brought me in an ambulance. I was really dying - weak, fell into a puddle and froze on my feet, but I was lucky - I crawled out onto the road to the bus stop, and then the young people noticed me, and now everyone has cell phones, so they called an ambulance.
We read in the medical history: "delivered in a state of alcoholic intoxication." Many try to keep silent about this.
His situation is not cheerful - his passport has long been lost, although his residence permit in Moscow has been preserved, his father refused to let him go home. He says about himself: “I’m tired of this drunkenness, I already want peace, I would like to go to a home for the disabled”.
In order to register a disability and send him to a home for the disabled, you need a passport. They do not take them to the social adaptation center with a residence permit. Where is it to the street?
Social worker Anna Klimova went to the social welfare department to look for him, and there, fortunately, they gave the go-ahead to send Gorshkov to Filimonki. Alexey is worried about how he will walk on crutches - one leg is amputated to the knee, the other half a foot. Very weak, from exertion, trembling all over on crutches. Before the road he was given fruit and a bun. He leaves everything to his neighbors, saying: remember your father.
We ask: what father?
- Yes to the Pope.

There's a lot on the road
Alexei Starostin walked from Orel to Moscow on foot, caught a bad cold. Now I'm in therapy. All wet with weakness, but in his eyes a kind of feverish gleam. A red plastic cross hangs from a greasy string. Where from? Found on the road. There is a lot of stuff, and good things are thrown away in the bags. You can't see it from the car, but you can find everything. What did you eat? That's why I ate snow and got cold all over. Why did you go? And get a certificate that he worked at the plant. Do you have a passport? No, they were taken away by the police. Did the Lord tell you to give passports?
He only asked us for clothes, but the shoes were already worn out.

Anyone can become homeless, regardless of social status and skin color

Your dad died on Friday
The staff informed that a new patient had arrived. Heavy. Eugene is already in his years, says that he changed an apartment in Moscow, to Klin, and Klin to Tula and has been living as a tramp for a long time. He has a son, but he "despises his father for such a way of life." A very heavy smell from Eugene and his sister, scolding him for sloppiness, wipes it off with alcohol. A few days later, they reported that Evgeny had cancer ... Maybe you should call your son? They searched and found a telephone, but no one was at home. And I thought that there would still be time. When I once again asked the doctors about him, they said: "I have already given my soul to God." So I didn't have time. I am trying to get through again. What can I say ... did your dad die on Friday? Somehow I never had to report the death of relatives. One day, finally, they pick up the phone and I hear a confused and ridiculous "thank you" in response to my message.

In addition to the help that the team provides to all homeless people, for example, the distribution of food, some are engaged in "targeted".
First aid is usually received with timid gratitude: the inhabitants of the streets are too weaned from normal human treatment. Bottom right: canned food is the most valuable food purchase: you can eat it right away, or you can save it until even more hungry times

Muscovites are good - warm-hearted people
Viktor Alekseevich Chaikin - amputation of the toes of both feet, no passport, originally from Omsk. Asks to return home to restore documents. We ship by rail. He says that he is riding a passenger train for the first time in his life. "And so, everything is on the Stolypin!" He spent 22 years in prison and tells everyone not without daring. And the neighbor at the bus stop, and me.
He does not remember his parents - he was brought up in an orphanage. And there for survival. “But I was the most authoritative there too. To whom I say, steal a bicycle - it will, because I ordered it. Well, and then to prisons ... I accepted God in the zone and reread the New Testament several times. The last time I came out, I didn't want such a life anymore. I went to Moscow by train from Omsk. In Peredelkino he begged for alms at the church. For some reason, in our zone, Muscovites were not liked. And now I will say that Muscovites are good - warm-hearted people. Once he collected a lot, treated the youngsters, gave them drink. And then they took the money from me, they threw me into the river. They thought I would drown. And I scrambled ashore, only froze my legs. Then he got to the hospital with frostbite, where the last film about Christ was shown "The Passion of Christ"! That's a movie! We barely begged the nurse to check it, otherwise it started late. As He walked and carried the Cross, dropped it ... "


I prayed to God about one thing - that the spring was warm
A strong elderly man Anatoly Alexandrovich Dobrov was in the surgery department a few days ago. Short, brown eyes, with gypsy. He tells about himself that he was born in Moscow, but went to prison very early, and then they were not allowed to go to Moscow, his mother died, he lost his apartment. And he spent thirty years in prison. For not asking. Yes, only now he was released from prison and felt that he had to bother about an apartment, that there was such a law to restore the rights to housing. And he came to the center of social adaptation of Lyublino, settled, but then ... "the girl met. And it started spinning." He left the center, and he did not appear there for ten days. And the rules were such that they took him and expelled him. And there, after all, they undertook to draw up a passport for him, to restore it. As he ended up on the street, he got tired - you can't get a job without documents, or everyone has to be paid. I had to sleep in the stairwells, and there they would be beaten and kicked out, and the police would be called. “I prayed to God about one thing - to keep the spring warm!”, He says.
And he really wants to go back to Lyublino, and he would live there on the sly and not drink at all. “You have to stop drinking! - he says resolutely, - they didn’t drink so much before, so young people in the zone are not the same - they drink a lot! ”
They called to Lyublino, and they did not mind accepting him, they say that he just left, and this is not severely punished. And how happy Anatoly Alexandrovich was, we dressed him up and went to the center and arranged it back.

These people have lost the habit of being attentive to themselves. But that doesn't mean they don't need anything

All my life on the street
She had a shaved head, overgrown dirty nails, broken off at the edges, a deep ulcer on her leg to the bone. She says she rubbed it with a boot. The attending physician said that amputation was needed here. Nadezhda Nikolaevna Mazikova, 50, says that she lives in the Tambov region - there is a cow and a river there. And I came to my father's funeral, but I was all burned, so I went to the hospitals. She asks for warmer clothes - she is very cold and her head is freezing. There are not very many women's things in stock, I bring a pullover, a knitted beret. Immediately he begins to smarten up: “How am I wearing a beret? Does it suit me? I never wore it. "
In general, women, a little come to their senses, immediately start to smarten up. The roommates in the ward help them, bring things. With some ease they leave a lot - more profit.
Finally, Nadezhda Nikolaevna asked to call her daughter, who lives in Moscow. A young woman with a tired voice answered me on the phone: “She's in Moscow again! How many times have we sent her to the village, with food, with things, comes back and begins to wander. She spent her whole life on the street, I grew up in a boarding school. But we will definitely come, mother, after all ”.
Nadezhda Nikolaevna, despite her unkempt appearance, evokes sympathy - her voice is soft, her eyes are full of tears. She's been very hungry for the last few days. And then they were kind people, they brought her something to eat. And she believes in God. They gave her an icon again and began to cry. And surprisingly, a priest came to the ward where she was lying with two old women to grab and commune one of them, and Nadezhda Nikolayevna was also aided and given the Holy Communion.

Recently I caught myself looking closely at the faces of the tramps by the metro, looking for familiar faces.

No one will tell you how many street homeless people are in Russia. The media scare that the number is huge and growing exponentially. In Moscow alone, the authorities count up to 50 thousand homeless people. But charities claim there are at least 100,000 of them. At the same time, Muscovites of them, according to various sources, are either 15%, or 5%.

The nightmare, the stench and the infection make you disdainfully bypass them and cause outright anger in many. A "normal" person does not know how one can sink this way and why "no one is doing anything." Anews tried to find the answers.

Why do people become homeless?

“Because they are drunks and drug addicts,” - many will say without hesitation - and they will be mistaken. Of course, there are such cases, but much more often people get drunk and take drugs while on the street.

Here are the real reasons.

• No job and no prospects

Most of the capital's homeless people are visitors from Russian regions and the CIS countries. The story is typical: they go to work, but cannot find anything or quickly lose their place, and they are ashamed to return. In such a situation, it is much easier to hit on fellow misfortune and slide down an incline.

• They took away housing

According to donors, 30% of street dwellers have become homeless due to family squabbles over real estate or due to the fault of scammers.

RIA Novosti / Pavel Lisitsyn

The head of the Nochlezhka organization Grigory Sverdlin: “The world in which we live is quite scary: absolutely every person may one day be on the street. It's nice to think that you, beloved, will never quarrel with your relatives and no one will take your apartment away. Yes, in our country every fifth person becomes homeless due to real estate problems. "

• Debts

God knows how many people suffered in the "dashing 90s" when, after the collapse of their business, they sold apartments and houses under the threat of reprisals from creditors. Even today, no property laws protect against such situations.

• After jail or on the run

According to some reports, half of the homeless people in Russia are former convicts. In the wild they are left with nothing, the state or relatives take home, nothing is provided in return. And there is no real opportunity to find a job and rent an apartment for former criminals.

Another part of the homeless have no criminal record, but for various reasons are hiding from the police.

• Conscious choice

Imagine, there are such "romantics". There are fewer of them, but, in general, not so few. They hate the "dull" life of most workaholic with their routine, mortgages and family obligations. They believe that they do not owe anything to anyone and can enjoy “complete freedom”. And the living conditions do not bother them.

Where do homeless people live and what do they eat?

Seeing sleeping homeless people in city shops and in the subway, one might think that they live "nowhere". But this is also a myth. You will not find completely restless loners, the laws of survival dictate their own rules. Homeless people stray into groups - a kind of "family", only not connected by either kinship or intimate relationships, and equip shelters where strangers are not allowed.

These can be abandoned houses, basements, heating mains hatches, as well as self-made dwellings like huts in relatively uninhabited places. These buildings look flimsy, but in fact they are quite stable, according to reporters who have been there. Walls, roofs, furniture and utensils are all mined from landfills and garbage dumps. Some even manage to create a semblance of comfort.

When it comes to food, finding it is not a problem. Homeless people know trash cans where expired, but actually still usable products from cafes and shops are thrown. They know the places and hours of free food distribution, and so well that if in one place it is too crowded or a scuffle ensues, they will simply go to another nearest point.

By the way, the same applies to hygiene: homeless people know very well where they can, if necessary, put themselves in order, even get a haircut.

Natalya Bodrova, a social worker at the famous Lyublino center: “They often don’t wash because they serve more like that, so they look more like homeless people. But if they need to go somewhere, they always know where it can be done. "

Do pigeons, dogs and cats eat?

Very few - perhaps, but most live with homeless brothers, the smaller ones, quite like a neighbor. Moreover, in cities where you don't need to invent extremes in order not to stay hungry.

Where does the money come from?

Many people confuse tramps and beggars, but these are different "professions". The former are on their own, while the latter most often have “owners” who keep them in slavery and take the proceeds.

Shooting money from passers-by, a bum of a classic look and smell will collect a little. But if it looks less disgusting, it will always be able to earn extra money.

Popular options:

• collect and hand over scrap metal / bottles
• sell discarded books
• sort the trash
• work as a janitor or janitor "for an hour" (at a train station, at a store, etc.)

In 2015, the poet and writer Andrei Orlovsky stayed with 4 homeless men and found out that their total income starts from 1,300 rubles and can reach 5-6 thousand per day.

Orlovsky: “As part of a conversation about money, Oleg (one of the four - note Anews) told how one day a man approached him on the street, showed the press card of a journalist and asked:“ Are you going to work for 50 thousand a month? ”. Oleg answered: “Are you a fool at all? I just drink 50 thousand a month "".

Where do homeless people spend the winter?

In the city, the choice is small, but it is: well-known hostels, mobile heating points that are installed in the cold, all the same hatches of heating mains, as well as abandoned buildings, electric trains, etc., where you can at least hide from the wind. Some churches and monasteries provide shelter and food for work.

However, despite the measures taken by the authorities and charities, thousands of homeless people die in Russian cities every winter. Mainly because of alcohol: some get drunk to warm up and eventually turn off right on the street, others die from burns on heating plants or burn down in basements.

Why aren't they moving south?

Don't think they can't. Quite the opposite: according to the capital's social workers, in the summer homeless people often go to the sea on the commuter trains. And by the cold they return to Moscow again, because it is much easier for a homeless person to survive the winter in a big city.

Why are homeless people dangerous?

Most of them are carriers of dangerous diseases, including tuberculosis, hepatitis and HIV. Social workers are most at risk: they need to make sure that when working with wards they do not inject themselves with anything, even accidentally, and also that they do not bite.

And if you do not contact a vagrant, but be in the same space, for example, in transport?

Head of the Moscow Disinfection Center Grigory Ostanin: “Most often, homeless people suffer from head lice, scabies, and various types of fungal diseases. Scabies and head lice can get sick without contacting directly with the infected. Lice, especially if there are many of them, remain on seats and benches, and scabies can be obtained by holding onto the handrail.

Do homeless people have children?

This question will be answered by statistics: over 80% of the homeless are men, and the majority of the homeless in principle (men and women) are people aged 40 and over. So no, it's not common among them.

The opinion that homeless people give birth to children in landfills and in basements existed several years ago, when the problem of homeless children was acute in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Several documentaries and films were shot about this. Children escaped from boarding schools, lived in basements and hatches, ate "bum-bags" (instant noodles), constantly sniffed solvent or glue, and injected. Many died as teenagers.

The authorities and organizations claim that they have jointly managed to solve the problem of child homelessness.

Why aren't they returning to normal life?

The centers for social adaptation say that only 10% of the wards leave homeless life in the past. Others aggressively reject offers of help or sit on their necks. At the same time, in principle, they do not need "salvation" and here is why.

• They are well aware of where in the city to eat, wash, change clothes, get medical help and spend the night for free. They don't see the point in changing.
• He who wanders for up to a year still has an incentive to get settled in life, and who for more than a year delays.

Eugene, an employee of the Social Patrol: “People's psyche is changing, alcohol addiction is added. They would like to get out, but nonresidents, for example, are ashamed to return home. Some kind of vicious circle. "

Do not rush to despise homeless people ... It is easier to become a homeless person than you think. I will tell the sad story of one bum that we Lev Myshkin heard tonight.

We were calmly standing at the Kazan Cathedral and discussing the latest news, when a classic gray-bearded smelly bum from St. Petersburg approached us with a request to give him ten rubles to improve his health. If you are familiar with the Prince, you can already guess what happened next.

Of course, the Prince solemnly handed the homeless person five hundred rubles so that he could have a drink and a bite today as a human being, and also with sincere participation in his voice wished to know what had brought an obviously intelligent person to such a life.

I am telling you the instructive story of the fall of this poor fellow.

Some fifteen years ago, this bum was not a bum, but quite a successful and respected person: a teacher of matanalysis at one of the prestigious St. Petersburg universities. His salary was small, but he could take bribes from careless students: young men paid him with money or alcohol, and students, depending on their external data, either with money or kisses.

Ivan Nikolaevich lived - as I will call our hero - in his own small apartment completely alone, except for the faithful pedigree dog, who was the teacher's only friend.

One evening, standing at a bus stop and sipping his lawful morning beer, Ivan Nikolaevich made a mistake: he accidentally burned a cigarette on the jacket of a lady who was hiding with him at the bus stop from the rain while waiting for a trolleybus.

At first, the lady screamed, but when she realized that Ivan Nikolaevich deeply did not care about all her wardrobe items put together, she quieted down, looked meaningfully at the bully in the eyes, and with a hissing ominous whisper issued a threat: "Gd will punish you."

Being an atheist to the core, Ivan Nikolayevich completely ignored the threat. However, the punishment of heaven overtook the little faith in a few days: on the next evening walk, his dog ran off to the far end of the wasteland, gave a short squeal there and returned to the owner ... all soiled in green paint.

Let me remind you: Ivan Nikolaevich's salary was small, and he never had extra money. Therefore, so that the dog does not stain the carpets and wallpaper with paint, Ivan Nikolayevich decided to leave the dog to spend the night in the vacant lot, and in the morning, when the paint dries up, cut off all the stained wool with scissors right on the street. Actually, this is exactly what Ivan Nikolaevich did.

At this moment, fate dealt the first serious blow to the teacher. Going out into the wasteland the next morning, he found there the complete absence of his dog. Looking ahead, I will say that the posting of ads and other search and rescue measures were not crowned with success: the dog disappeared forever.

About a week later, when the teacher had already begun to realize that the dog was lost forever, he again saw the same woman-prophetess on the trolleybus. Rage boiled in his veins, he followed the woman to her stop and on a deserted street attacked the lady with his fists, demanding either return the dog or pay him monetary compensation for the thoroughbred dog.

Perhaps everything would have ended very badly, but the woman, fortunately, was armed with a pepper spray, which she, already lying on the asphalt, used against the aggressor distraught with grief.

Ivan Nikolaevich suffered very badly: he received a burn of his lungs and spent two whole months in the hospital. In addition, during the ensuing proceedings, it turned out that Ivan Nikolaevich was mistaken: she was a completely outsider lady, whom he did not burn with a cigarette, and who had just returned to Petersburg from some monastery.

Fortunately for him, the lady turned out to be deeply Orthodox: not only did she not file a complaint against Ivan Nikolaevich with the police, but she also carried pies and other bad things to the sick for all these two months to the hospital.

This was the second blow of fate.

Having recovered from the burn of his lungs, Ivan Nikolaevich again began to teach his calculus. Rumors at the institute spread, and they began to look askance at him. During the session that followed, a terrible thing happened.

One of the negligent students, whom Ivan Nikolaevich slapped a well-deserved deuce on the exam, quietly leaned towards the teacher and said that the deuce did not upset him, since it was he who doused the teacher's dog with green paint, in revenge for the evening of love, to which Ivan Nikolaevich had been for several months back, under threat of expulsion from the university, he bowled the girlfriend of this very poor student.

The provocateur's words reached their goal. The bloody boys danced in the eyes of the teacher, he threw aside the table separating him from the student with a mighty hand and began beating the dirty trick so severely that before he was dragged away from the victim, he managed to break several of the student's ribs.

Of course, after that Ivan Nikolaevich was shown at the door, and this was the third blow of fate.

Further, the story of Ivan Nikolaevich is not of particular interest. He barely escaped criminal prosecution for beating, drank a bitter drink, got in touch with bad people, made debts, sold an apartment to pay off debts ... and, of course, quickly drank away all the money from the sale. For some time he lived in a student hostel, in which he was tolerated for old memory, but in the end he was kicked out of there.

In recent years, Ivan Nikolaevich has been homeless, and the only person from a past life with whom he retained at least some kind of relationship is the same Orthodox woman whom he then attacked. When he gets really bad, he knows that he can visit her to get a bowl of hot soup and some money for medicine.

So that's it. Why am I writing all this.

Sitting at a warm computer it is easy to argue: they say, homeless people are the dregs of society, and, they say, if I suddenly found myself without an apartment, I would immediately get a job and start living in a rented apartment. However, life hits us sometimes very painfully, and not everyone has enough mental strength not to fall under its blows into the mud.

Two homeless people from the streets of Moscow talked about where they spend the night, what they eat, and how they came to this life.

My education is secondary technical, I graduated from vocational school. All his life he worked as a builder, before the collapse of the Soviet Union - in the same office. Then all the enterprises fell apart, and I began to look for work on my own. I went to different cities to earn money, all the time I disappeared somewhere.

Then health began to deteriorate. From hard physical labor, the joints simply fall apart. It became unbearable to work. Periodically, somewhere else, I did some hack-work, I tried to deal with the forest, but it did not work. I just didn't have the strength. And they don't take a disabled person of my age anywhere.

In Moscow, I lived in an apartment with my wife and children. But since I always left for other cities, contact with them was lost. We didn’t fight, we just stopped communicating. My wife, apparently, does not care about me. They say that a woman cannot live without her husband - maybe she already has another man. I do not care. And the kids don't know that I'm homeless. I periodically call them and say that I have left for another city to work. That is lying.

The decision to go outside came by itself. I decided not to interfere with the children anymore and go out into the street. I felt that my family did not need it. And they probably didn’t notice my disappearance and didn’t realize that I lived on the street. I immediately decided that I would never return home. And for three years he never slept in his apartment. There are no friends left either. Someone died, something happened to others. I could not go to anyone. If there were friends, they would help.

The first thing on the street I began to think about where to spend the night and get food. Began to beg, learned to earn money. It turned out that you can earn extra money almost always and everywhere. For example, if you sweep next to the tent, you will get a pretty penny from the seller. Or help someone with the housework. I limp, it is difficult to work with my legs, but what to do?

I spend the night at the Lyublino social center. According to the law, it seems that you can only stay there for three nights in a row, but in winter they let you in every night. You sleep there until morning, and then go wherever you want. You need to be outside all day. But we somehow cope. Now I wear a real sheepskin coat, they gave it to me. In principle, there are no problems with things - they give a lot. Today they gave me warm trousers - tomorrow I'll wear them. The only problem is that there is nowhere to store things. In the summer you undress and throw away old things.

In winter, it is still cold in any clothes. We go down to warm up in the subway. Sat on the roundabout - and you go yourself. Nobody drives us out of there. But there only until one in the morning you can. We don't go into the entrances - there are people there, but they don't like us. You can stay in the entrances only if you behave in an exemplary manner.

We eat what we have to, almost always dry food. Even if social assistance provides some kind of food, it is cold. You can eat hot food only if the church feeds it or you earn money on it yourself. By the way, they let them into shops without any problems. Why don't they let us in?

Because of this nutrition, the stomach hurts constantly. I don't know what I have there - pancreatitis, cystitis or gastritis. Maybe an ulcer. The social center gives us pills, but they don't always help. We relieve our needs in blue cabins or toilets at train stations. Not free, of course, but for money. But if it does, we can sit on the street. But, of course, in some not too crowded place. We understand everything, and we are shy.

Because of my stomach, I don't drink alcohol at all. But if I felt normal, I would definitely drink. And how not to drink in the cold? Try to walk down the street at minus 10 all day, you will also want to. Therefore, everyone is homeless and drinks. Maybe alcohol warms up for a short time, but how else to keep warm? Moreover, if someone started drinking, he rarely stops until he falls asleep right on the street.

There are no particular problems with hygiene. You can wash yourself at the Kursk railway station, on the Severyanin platform. There, roasting, steaming, you can even walk every day for free. I often go. Don't look that I'm unshaven - I let it go for style. Shaving machines are also available there. And you can get a haircut at the Paveletsky railway station. They train hairdressers and they train on our heads.

I usually spend time with two or three homeless people like me. In a team it is always more fun and easier to get food for yourself. Is there love among the homeless? Maybe yes. But it's better to ask young people - we are already old, where should we go? And young people under alcohol all fall in love with each other. But in general, there are not very many young people among the homeless. Basically, only visitors who are looking for a job and a happy life. If they do not find it, they join us. I do not understand them. They can achieve everything, but do not want to. They want to drink and indulge. Why are they going this way?

I have a desire to return to normal life, but there is no way. I cannot return to my family. There are such sayings: "You can't glue a broken cup" and "They don't dance back." This is no longer interesting to me. Live with mine - you yourself will understand why interest disappears. Life is such - what we have, what you, young people.

I am 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, could not understand why I was so unlucky. Gradually I got in touch with the vagrants and went out into the street myself, but quickly returned home. My house is in the Oryol region. But then my mother died. And my father then reproached me that I ate his bread. I freaked out and told him: "I will leave and find myself a piece of bread."

I went to Livny, this is also in the Oryol region. She lived there in an apartment, everything is fine, although there is no gas or electricity in it. We connected somehow. Contacted again with drunks. And then I got tired of it. Among the tramps I met one Skalozub - he had that nickname, he just got out after a term for murder. He invited me to go to Moscow. And I agreed because, to be honest, I drank it. We arrived in the capital, and then Skalozub immediately left me. But I had a lot of acquaintances here. All are vagabonds, but good people. They say: "Who will offend you - tell me, no one here dares to touch us."

For some time I was homeless and drank in Moscow, and then I got a job in the center for the rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts in Alabino to work in the kitchen. I was good at it, especially the pancakes and pancakes worked well. The boss always consulted with me 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. And which "home"? This street is my home. I'm a fool myself. If I hadn't drunk, I would have lived there until now.

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. I recently stood at the Paveletskaya roundabout. I see two men just shaking. I say, "What do you guys want a hangover for?" - "Why, do you have money?" - "While there is." I took them a bottle. They offered to join. I say: “Leave me alone! Drink, hangover. " I understood their condition. She went through this school. How many people died from such a hangover.

I had money from the collected alms. Women are usually served more than men. Here on him (points to the first interlocutor of The Village), you can't see that he is limping. Therefore, everyone thinks that, man, he could find a job for himself. And women are more lenient. Therefore, it is easier for us to earn money.

But in general there is no help from anyone, only inquiries. Well, if at least for the night somewhere they accept. But then walk around the city anyway. The food is brought cold. When there is no penny, you can sit for several days without hot food. Buy a pie, huh?

I sleep wherever I have to. You will agree here, then there. Today I spent the night at the Domodedovo airport. I paid 17 rubles 50 kopecks to the cashier - and they let me into the waiting room. Completely sober, calm, neatly dressed, I slept there until morning. In the morning I went to the toilet, washed and drove back to the city. I wanted to buy tea at the airport, but it costs 40 rubles there. Who is this for?

I got a scratch on my nose this afternoon. I can hardly walk, twisted my leg and rubbed myself against the fence. No, fights between homeless people rarely happen. Only if you are drunk and between the young. Why should we, old people, share?

I would give everything, just to return home. I swear I will eat the land - 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 were stolen once, can you imagine? Well at least I left my passport in Oryol.

I have a believing brother, sister, two daughters, a son, three grandchildren there. Father may still be alive. Maybe the son is already married. I have been here for almost five years, everything could have changed there. But I don't know anything about my family. If my relatives knew that I was here, broken, they would have taken me. They may be looking for me, but they cannot find me. I'm here and there. And I myself cannot leave, there is no money. And then there's this drink. That's what is killing me. If only I could get a job in a monastery. I swear I'd quit drinking. I would no longer be drawn to the street. I just want to bow to God. Or the old woman would have accepted some to take care of her. Only there is no Moscow passport and registration. But I can’t do it anymore. Either I'll die here, or somehow.