This is my summery of a documentary about homeless people (the first 15 minutes of the documentary only).
Az & Mo are two ordinary guys who spent three days and three nights on the street to see how it is being homeless. They later made a documentary from the experience they got and this is my summery from the first 15 minutes of it. The whole documentary is 32 minutes.
In the documentary, Az and Mo say that 95 percent of the people who walked pass them during their time as ”homeless” didn’t even look at them. It was like they were invisible. People walked past and never made eye contact and they couldn’t even glance at them. Az & Mo thought it was because of the guilt, they felt guilty about not helping out and therefor the people didn’t even acknowledge Az and Mo’s precense.
Homeless 1: You don’t always have to give money, sometimes you can just offer a cup of tea or something. And if you don’t have any money, you don’t have to just walk away, you can hold on for a second and say, sorry mate, don’t have any change. It’s not like we want to sit here, it’s embarrassing.
Homeless 2: Nobody holds on to ask you how you feel, they won’t even acknowledge that they see you. Some people take your card board and run around with it, like a joke. For them it’s amusing, but when you really are in that situation, it’s not funny at all. Some people immediately assume you’re a drug user or an alcoholic and they think you want to use the money for that.
So a lot of people think the homeless buy drugs and alcohol and things like that, and that’s partly why they won’t give any money. But that’s not entirely true. Of course, some people do use the money for drugs and alcohol, but life on the streets is not easy and if the homeless have to keep on going without any help or support from the society, they will continue doing those things.
Some of the homeless choose to dress properly or choose to dress in a special kind of way, because they believe that will gain them more money. That’s also because of how society decides to act. If the society sees a homeless who seems to be able to take care of himslef, having nice clothes and so on, then they won’t help that person.
If you don’t want to give any money, that’s okay, but at least, don’t ignore the homeless. Give them a smile and admit that you see them.
Homeless 1: You’ve got to have a safe place too sleep at, that’s one problem. Another thing is when people walk by you and tell you to get a job or something. They don’t know that you maybe never had a job, that your marriage fell apart or something like that. They don’t know.
Homeless 2: Something you’ve got to keep in mind is that it’s not as easy for the homeless people as for the others. Even if you get a job, how are you supposed to stay clean? How are you supposed to wash your clothes? You have no place to keep your stuff. Some people say, you shouldn’t bee on the streets, you dress too good. That’s usually when they’re drunk on a Friday or Saturday night.
A lot of people have their own problems, relationship problems, their life stressing and so on. They are preoccupied with their own lives and don’t see the homeless. They have a goal, somewhere to go and they are rushing. We don’t know their lives and therefor we can’t judge them.
Fay is a girl who’s in an organisation called Suckmob. That’s an organisation she’s in with a couple of her friends. The organisation is optional. Once a week, Fay and her friends walk around in different areas in London with food and drinks that they give to the homeless people. They also talk to the homeless and simply try to make it a bit better for them. Fay says it’s not always about the money, it’s also about having somebody to talk to.
Az and Mo keep on living the life of a homeless and according to them, it’s not easy at all. It’s 1 pm and they have nowhere to sleep. There’s security everywhere. They’ve found some benches too sleep on, but they will not be able to stay there for too long, there will be guards telling them to move.
One day, a guy walked past them and gave them his lunch. Another one gave them a cup filled with nuts. Az and Mo were a bit surprised at this and realised there are people who actually have empathy with the homeless.
Another night, Az and Mo had to find a new place to sleep on. They found some space under some stairs and decided to spend the night there. It was tough and the place was very gross since a lot of people pee there, but it was the safest place they could find. It was very cold and they couldn’t sleep. It was not easy at all.
A lot of people said they would rather give food than money because they weren’t sure where the money went and for what. So then do that, buy some lunch and give it to a homeless guy you see. And if you don’t want to do that, at least acknowledge that you see them, they appreciate it.
So that was my summery of the documentary. I agree with what they say, people should pay more attention to homeless people and start helping out. It’s not fair if the ones who have an easier life should ignore the ones who don’t. And it’s not like the things we should do in order to make a homeless persons day a bit better are that difficult. Giving them a smile while passing them by or maybe exchange a couple of words won’t take that much of your time and energy. And even if it does, it’s worth it. It’s worth taking your time and spending some money to help others, and that’s probably the right thing to do too.
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