Each of us is gifted in some way. For some that’s obvious, for others much less so. Knowing what we are capable of and communicating it to other people gives us self-confidence and self-esteem.
People who have lived in the street for a long time don’t expect anything anymore from society. Often they have stopped believing in themselves and see themselves just as failures. They don’t really live anymore. Life is something they must endure.
How can we help?
For Street Nurses hygiene and health are of course important concerns. But we also find it essential to show our patients what they are capable of, to spur their motivation and to make them see that they, like all of us, have gifts that allow them to make something of their lives. That awareness motivates us to set ourselves a goal, something we are keen to achieve.
Re-creating an appetite for life: that’s the task of our carers and social workers. Because that's what kindles the will of homeless people to be reintegrated. We help them discovering their talents and enthusiasm, be it for painting, reading, making a trip to the seaside - all the things they’d love to do, that make them believe again in their own worth and that can give them a place in society.