Catégorie

September 2022

A brilliant idea

My first meeting with you, Mr.

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August 2022

Mrs. J.'s big heart

Mrs J., we met 11 years ago. After three years in the street being followed up by Street Nurses, you were one of the first people to join the Housing First programme.

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July 2022

“To make you laugh”

Arcadia! No, not the mythological land where happy shepherds play the flute and live off love and fresh air. It’s the name of a retirement home where the “My Way” team pays a visit to see how Mr. M. is doing.

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June 2022

A guardian angel, disguised as a shop keeper

One morning we set out to look for Mr. M. He’s mentally limited and lives on the street. He moves about a lot and finding him is always a challenge.

First, we search in the huge parking lot of a shopping center, then in the center itself and finally in the surroundings: gloomy viaducts, remains of camping spots, old shopping carts full of rubbish. But no trace of Mr. M.

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June 2022

Not half bad, Mrs. A’s dream

When we join her today, Mrs. A hides her face in her hands. She groans, she weeps. An icy wind hits the courtyard where we’re sitting and makes the atmosphere even more desolate. Nobody can escape suffering. I know. As a social assistant, as someone who wants to relieve misery in all its forms. I empathise with her suffering, each time she looks at me with swollen eyes.

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May 2022

You’re not alone, Mrs. L.

Mrs L. is almost 50 years old. She’s been living on the street for 20 years, got placed in institutions from a very early age and is a victim of the failing Belgian system. Street Nurses in Liège are worried about her and feel powerless in the face of her misery.

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May 2022

Suppose he had been granted asylum

We dedicate this article to Mr. F, a man with an impressive career, intelligent and with a mischievous look in his eyes. We want to highlight his story but also how it could have ended if he had been granted asylum.

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April 2022

On that day, it seemed that he was with us

We knew her husband, Mr. N, very well. He was a bon vivant and quite outspoken. You could hardly miss him whenever he was around. He had bags of humor and inspired a lot of sympathy in people he met. His two passions were Johnny and dogs. He had survived innumerable ordeals so that people almost thought he was immortal. Even so, we had to let him go in the winter of 2021.

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April 2022

Coming together in mourning

Today I accompanied Mr. S. to his mother’s funeral.

A few days ago, a family member told us that his mother had died. We knew little about the contacts he still had with his family. He tends to tell us with a broad smile that everything is fine, that the contacts are in order and that, he too, is OK. But we know that he’s sometimes “too proud” to tell us that he’s going through a difficult period.

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April 2022

So now we’re trying just on the off chance

Today, I visited with my colleagues a patient in Liège. I travelled there by train and met them at the Guillemins station. I hardly know this town and even less the patients Street Nurses supports there.

We’re going to visit Mr. J in his home at a few minutes distance. We tried to inform him ahead of our visit but couldn’t get through. So now we’re trying just on the off chance.

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April 2022

Each way of living on the street is unique, but none is just.

I see all sorts of camping spots pop up in Liège. When I walked past these homeless people before, all sorts of questions went through my mind. I saw them move around, occupy spots here and there, but never to stay. A body in a garage entrance, the movements of someone breathing under a blanket, stuff piled up in a corner, a piece of cardboard under a porch…Clearly visible traces of poverty, but always of a temporary nature.

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March 2022

A day at the seaside!

Mr. T and Mr. X are two patients we support in their homes.

For several months, they have been members of the tenants’ council, organized by the “Affiliation” team. There they can meet other tenants in the Brussels Housing First project and together select activities in which they’d like to participate.

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