The ‘Stëmm vun der Strooss’ (‘Voice of the Street’) non profit has seen an uptick of people resorting to their services in the past decade, with figures having quadrupled in Luxembourg City alone.
The queue outside their Gare offices, where an average of 280 to 350 meals are handed out, is once again long on any given afternoon, explained non-profit director Alexandra Oxaceley in conversation with RTL. She noted that numbers particularly increased after the end of Ramadan and when the Findel night shelter closed, although the latter has since resumed operations due to the persisting cold in the Grand Duchy.
Sleeping bags and spaces to rest are available at the nearby ‘Saxaphon’, which also attracts regular users.
One of them is Alain Rayeck, who told RTL about the dangers of living in the street and why he believes it to be safer to only travel in pairs: “I know of Bonnevoie, there are youth gangs that roam around and kick lone people in sleeping bags. It is a sort of courage test to belong to the gang, to be cool. Where you kick a vulnerable person with your feet until they no longer move.”
RTL also spoke to Daboné Solo, who explained that he was at times up until 5am when the Findel shelter closed. He then waited until the train station reopened to sleep inside.
According to Oxaceley, a growing number of people has resorted to sleeping in tents as of late: “I already knew that people are sleeping in forests. But this now is a significant change. Now we can see more and more how poverty really is increasing. Now we can non longer hide it.”
Stefan and Ferenc, who are originally from Hungary, showed our RTL colleagues their make-shift home in the Kirchberg forest, where they have been living in tents with their dogs Chilli and Pici for one and a half years.
According to Stefan, they do not want to go to the Findel shelter despite rain and cold due to there being too many people crowded together. The different cultures eventually lead to aggressions, he noted. Their dogs are another reason why they do not resort to the shelter. Both say that they feel safe in the forest and make sure to regularly clean and take away any rubbish.
Stefan, a trained cook, is currently looking for work, but he says that once you are living in the street and once that also becomes visible, then it becomes extremely difficult to find employment. Going back to Hungary, however, is not an option for Stefan, who argues that there is no money to be made and that the politics are “crazy”.
