露宿者需要甚麼?
What do the homeless people need?
Loretta Ho, Urban Nomads, 20/8/2015, Reflection
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究竟怎麼樣的善事才算好?
有長者走過來問我們：「你們有沒有飯派?」開初時我們以為他是露宿者，之後有露宿者跟我們說他不是露宿者，而是一位經常來天橋底看看有沒有飯派的老伯。
有露宿者跟我們說：「有時候一日有三、四個機構派飯盒，我跟本食不完這麼多，有時則四日都沒有人派。」這樣
義診機構逢星期四出診，有位中醫學生從去年8月18日開始到現在已服務了這群體已有一年了。他說：「我第一次到這裏做義工，有露宿者跟我說他們不太喜歡外人的眼光，他們說『我們就好像動物園的動物被人看』」
他們只是派了他們希望派的物品就離開，沒有跟露宿者太多交流，看不到有太多問侯，也許拍拍照片說他們到此一遊做善事救濟弱勢群體，自我感覺良好。另一義診的義工說：「做善事其實不用這樣到處張揚的。」
已脫離露宿者行列的文仔現在仍非常關心露宿者，幾乎每天都探訪他們。他引述有些NGO帶明星來探訪，出現當天之前就大搖大擺叮囑他們有明星前來時要多一點反應，要說多一點話。可是NGO平日很久也不去關心他們。
義診義工說：「你們在這裏想做甚麼都可以，但前提是要跟他們建立關係，關心他們。就算做一些很無聊的砌Puzzle都可以的。」
真心和假意很容易就看得出來。因為露宿者是人，他們很敏感。他們需要的除了是物資以外，其實是關心。
訪問區議員時他也指出，派一個飯以為自已有光環，但其實可能跟露宿者做朋友，長期關心他們較重要。
這帶出了「同行」的重要性。我們跟弱勢社群是一起走人生的路，並非是消費他們。
我開始慢慢理解，露宿街頭是很多社會問題解決不了而造成的現象，例如是家庭問題、房屋問題、吸毒問題等，也許公民社會沒有太大能能去處理制度上的不足，但要是我們有同理心，跟他們同行，讓他們得到尊重，尊嚴，他們也會更愛護自已，自身走出困局，社會問題也能走出困局。
What do the homeless people need?
Loretta Ho, Urban Nomads, 20/8/2015, ReflectionWhat should we do so as to be considered as good for the underprivileged people?
When we first attempted to understand the situation and went to the area under the Sham Shui Po flyover, an elderly came to us and asked “Are you distributing free meal?” Later on, a street sleeper told us that that man is not a homeless man. He come to this area so as to be a free rider and receive meals.
A street sleeper told us, “Sometimes there are three to four organisations distributing free meals, I can’t eat so many and it would be a waste. But sometimes, there are no free meals for three days.”
A volunteer organization comes to this community to serve the homeless community every Thursday. A Chinese medical student has been here for 1 year already. He said, “When I was first here, a homeless man told me that they are like zoo animals. All the visitors came here for a while and left.”
Those short-term volunteers come to the field and distributing the materials they think they need. Then, they took some pictures and this action makes them feel so good. Another Chinese medicine volunteer who come here regularly said, “when you do something good to the society, it is not necessary to be so high profile and let the rest of the world know about it.”
Some NGO arranged a visit and brought some celebrities and reporters to visit the homeless people. It would be very annoying to them because the NGO does not visit them regularly. The homeless people could feel that they’re not with their whole-hearted in serving them.
The Chinese medicine volunteer said, “Actually you can do whatever you want in this community, you can try, but the premise is to build relationships with them and really care about them. Even if you want to do something very silly, such as making a puzzle, they would be very receptive in your silly action.”
The homeless people are so vulnerable and they could easily identify who is doing good or pretend to be good for them.
According to an interview with the district councilor, he pointed out that actually a free meal might not be the most important thing for them. It is also very good in making friends with them, and set up a long term relationship with them.
All of these bring about an issue about “walking together”. We should be sincere in our work but not about consuming them.
Because of this process in understanding this social issue, I try to recognize that being homeless is an end-result of many social problems, such as family problem, housing problem, drug problem. Perhaps, it would be relatively more difficult to tackle with the institutional problems. It might be relatively easier to be more empathetic and care about the community. It would be more empowering to the vulnerable people and let them gain respect and dignity. They would try to take care more about themselves. If this is so, it might have a higher chance of leaving their current situation of being homeless, and the social problem might be alleviated.
