In the city of Kuibyshev Novosibirsk region A 17-year-old boy set a homeless man on fire.
Allegedly, having heard abuse addressed to him, he went to the store, bought gasoline, doused the offender and struck a lighter. If not for the five friends of the bum,
he would be burned alive. Two years ago, a similar incident occurred in the Leninsky district. These stories show
that the homeless are sometimes considered inanimate beings. Protesting against such an attitude towards people, NGS correspondents. NEWS
lived one day in the Dry Log with a group of Bogdanovsky scourges (as they call themselves) and made friends with them.

This is a story about how we ended up in another world and lived one day with the scourge Oleg from the “Bogdanovsky group”. Here he is. Cunning, cheerful, with a broken skull.

Start of the journey: paid (2500 per month) rooming house on Vesennyaya. The "elite" of the homeless lives here - pensioners, they have already forgotten about the real homeless life. At the exit, we ran into a stately, proud old man - he winked at us mockingly.

Metro station "Zaeltsovskaya". Serega, a beggar: “I am a loner, I decide everything for myself.” Even for 300 rubles he refused to show the homeless life of the city. Kalinin Square - and so the bread place.

In the rooming house we were told about the settlement of homeless people in Sukhoi Log. Now the path lies to the garbage heap and garages between Narodnaya and the private sector (popularly it is called Shanghai and is a real Novosibirsk Harlem).

If you discard the everyday rubbish, you can find your joys everywhere. It is quiet here, there are many secluded places, and the stench of the garbage dump is mixed with the intoxicating aroma of flowering bird cherry and apple trees.

Basement in Khrushchev. We open the door and see 44-year-old Oleg, he just woke up. "This is how we wake up." - Do you dream about anything in the morning? - “A lot of things. I dream of being a welder so that sparks fly. I'm a great welder - such a topic.

“The ex-wife came yesterday, the rat, took all the money. And then the Shanghai youngsters were fucked on the head. Is it dangerous to live? Unpredictable. The same Shanghai people will sometimes call an ambulance if one of ours becomes very ill.

Oleg is friendly, he invites us to the bushes, where all the active members of the "Bogdanovskaya" will soon appear. “Now you will see how we live. We wake up, so we start working, we go around - for metal (2 rubles per kg), we all get drunk together.

“Look, I found some pink salmon, it’s just frozen! And we find as many sausages in garbage dumps as you don’t have in refrigerators. By the way, it is correct to call a container not a dump, but a parking lot or a Klondike.

“After we got drunk, we go back to work. We have how. Men earn money, and women find and cook food. We don't have a main one. Everything that someone received or found goes to the common fund. Hey Seryoga, get up! This is Seryoga, his legs are frostbitten.”

Serega cannot collect metal, but he is an old man, and therefore his scourge friends will never leave him. This winter, the frost almost deprived him of his legs. In the "good basements" on Kropotkin Street, whips survived, huddled together, basking in each other like kittens.

This simple wealth of Seregino is a mirror and a float to catch small fish in Eltsovka.

Beard appears (46 years old) - an artistic and ironic blue-eyed handsome man. If washed - neither give nor take a Hollywood actor. I recently returned from the Kozikhinsky Monastery.

“We have been living here for several years, we do not stick out in other territories - there are our own groups. If a stranger comes to us, we'll send it off quickly. - "Have you ever planned to relax, swim in the Ob?" - "I want to. But who is waiting for us there?

Zhenya (the youngest, he is 28 years old) and the dog Leshy. Economic Zhenya. “Look, what a carbon monoxide hacksaw I found.” Knows how to play the drums. “The guys in the garages played guitars, I asked them: can I knock? They allowed. Bliss!".

Olya - Zhenya's friend - and mother-nurse of the entire homeless team. "I'm only his, no one else, no, no." Olga loves to read. In the garbage dump, “I found all of Dontsova and Marinina” and read it from cover to cover.

Next to Zhenya is the Professor, an alcoholic from a neighboring house. On the one hand, he pretends to be superior to them in status. On the other hand, he clearly lacks Bich's love of life and ironic attitude to difficulties - he is drawn to them. And to alcohol.

Beard likes such a life - neither a rooming house, nor work attracts him. On the collection of pieces of iron and the sale of the “team” found in the garbage he earns from 1 to 5 thousand a day. He has no malice towards the "civilian world".

The scourges like vodka much more than the incomprehensible spirit of "Shanghai" production (15 rubles per 100 g).

At some moments, it seemed that the scourges live in some kind of parallel, cozy world in their own way. Like the hobbits, for example. Or gnomes.

Beard: “Gentlemen of Novosibirsk, I want to make a short announcement: leave bottled beer unfinished. We are very thirsty when we work!”

Everyone is very drunk. We're heading to the basement. Suddenly Beard says: “Let's not go there. Other people live there. It's embarrassing to disturb them."

A collegial decision is made to go "work" and go to the mysterious Gavrila. At this moment, Dan appears, starting a whip, and gives the photojournalist Tatyana a beautiful yellow tulip plucked from a flower bed.

Dan is still young, he has an apartment and parents. Acting like a Harlem nigga from Harlem nigga movies. He prefers to live in the basement with Oleg - "like cool." He treats Beard and Oleg with love and filial piety.

Dan carefully makes a compress for Oleg from a piece of cardboard box soaked in alcohol. Oleg is dead drunk. But we still need to see Gavrila. "Who is Gavrila? Ha, now you will recognize our Gavrila.

Friends hug. Quite sincerely.

Oleg's day ends, he falls on the road - his friends carefully drag him into the bushes and put two Maxim cigarettes in his hand. Good night and good luck, Oleg!

The culmination of our psychedelic journey. Among the pipes, dead cats, dirty toys, Gavrila settled down on a cozy bed, according to him, a veteran of the war in Angola: “Guten tag! Hello! Parlay vu france! Gyalse gyalse is Somali."

Gavrila also reads books that she finds in the garbage: “I recently read The Master and Margarita. So cute". Yawns sweetly and winks: “Most of all I love science fiction. Sank yu very match. Drinks from the throat: "Good health to you, gentlemen!".

Allow me to introduce - Radik Garimyanovich with a terrible surname Basaev, 45 years old. Ordinary provincial bum with a solid "professional" experience. Lives in the city of Orsk, Orenburg region.

A man of shitty fate, unable to overcome his weaknesses and sank to such a bottom from which they no longer rise. Today it is fashionable to show your day: when you woke up, how you had breakfast, how you went to work, what you did. Radik does not have the opportunity to capture his day on his own, and such a thought never occurred to him, however, when I explained my plan, a light lit up in his eyes and he enthusiastically said: “That's good, that's right, brother! Write so that people do not repeat my mistakes.

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to photograph this person all day, the homeless routine is too leisurely, so most write from his words

So, it is customary to show the watch on the display of a touch mobile phone with the first photo, but, as you understand, Radik does not have a mobile phone, but also ordinary wrist watch(they just don't need it). Radik gets up early. This is what his bed looks like:

Like rain, I'll go to the entrance. They don’t let me in everywhere, but I go where they don’t drive me.

Instead of breakfast, a couple of sips of alcohol, which Radik buys in a nearby hostel. Drinks intelligently, only diluted. Today they are asking for 17 rubles for a cup, and for a flacon (as on English manner says our hero) 35 rubles and no prohibitions on selling at night. Looking ahead, I will say that he is regularly applied to alcohol, and for him it is a boon much more necessary than food.

"Stump" is a place on the porch in front of the grocery store. Here he spends most of his time collecting alms. When asked how much they give, he answers: “Enough. Always different. How are people feeling?" Our hero is a real disaster for the store administration. At first they actively fought against his presence: they drove him away, but he returned, they called the police, but they came and also could not do anything. And where to put it? The shelters are overcrowded, and no one needs him there. As a result, Radik won in this long struggle. Now they have reconciled with him and are no longer driven, though they are not allowed inside. In this regard, he a big problem How to buy cigarettes He sits on the steps and asks passers-by: “Brother! Help! Here, take the money, buy me a pack of red Optima!” Most refuse, but someone compassionate is always there and helps out. Symbolically, but the store near which he is on duty is called "Fortuna"

When it's time for dinner, Radik gets up and goes to the Chkalovsky hospital, where they give free meals:

He walks very slowly and with great difficulty. This is due to a stroke that happened five years ago, which hit his legs great and predetermined him further fate. The fact is that Radik is not just a homeless person, but a homeless loner. The rest of the city's homeless live in groups, it's safer, it's easier to earn money and it's more fun to drink. Radik is not accepted into the company, since he is not efficient and there is no sense in him, although he himself is not enthusiastic about local homeless people:

Rats are mostly. Ghouls are so specific. I don’t let them near me, I don’t communicate. Once a passer-by fell on the street, he had an epileptic attack, and a homeless person came up and cleaned all his pockets. If I had walked normally, I would have beaten him, the dog.

Radik himself has been homeless since 2002, since he returned from prison.

Since then, as a robot, I walk, wander, no longer a person. Allah is punishing me.
And there is something to punish.
- What did you sit down for?
- One hundred and second...
- What is this?
- Corpse call...
- Killed someone?
- Yes, human.
- Are you drunk?
- Not. I was sober.

I'm going with a friend, I look, they're standing,
They stood in silence,
They stood in silence,
There were eight!

Walked at night, it was two hours. Bridge over Elshanka, where YuUMZ. They are towards. I then counted, there were sixteen of them! Well, I clung to the railing, they ask: "Is there a smoke? Or maybe there is money?" Well, I sanded one, and the rest fled. FROM right hand, right under the heart. With a knife..., - Radik falls silent, and then, having caught himself, almost shouts, - But I didn't go anywhere! Then there were no cellphones, I stayed, I thought, maybe someone from work will return, call an ambulance. I stayed, I didn't leave! Then the cops took me in, twelve thrashed me. He was sitting in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, he was a stoker. I liked it! I didn't even want to leave. And then came back and...

Did you have a family? - But how! Wife and daughter. My daughter is looking for me, - here Radik's swollen eyes take on a dreamy expression, - she has become an adult, they say she is beautiful, tall ... She graduated from the institute! The truth is, she hasn't gotten married yet. Bye.

It can be seen that the theme of the daughter is the only thing that somehow touches his exhausted, coarsened soul. He pauses, and then reaches into his bosom and pulls out the familiar yogurt bottle.
- You need to chill...
After drinking, he lights a cigarette and returns to his previous state.

Does the city support you? Why don't you go to the shelter?
- I go sometimes, but there it’s like this: lie down and free the bunk. I need to go to another, but it’s hard for me to walk, my legs are cheap. Yes, and you need to work there, but what kind of worker am I? I ate and dragged myself! So, I can only smoke and drink tea.
- Is it hard or already used to it?
- Get used to where to go. I still want to live, although, it is clear that Mike is my homeland (meaning city ​​cemetery in the village of Pervomaisky).
- Thank you Medvedev! - suddenly gives out Radik.
- Medvedev? For what?
- Supports us, that's what!
- What is it like?
- Yes, that's it, support, brother. I go to Chkalovskaya, they give me something to eat. I don't need anything from him. At least he's not like a hunchback, that real freak bl...
This ended our political discourse.

Where is the apartment? Lost?
- No, what are you! Left the wife. He left everything, even his clothes. I'm that kind of person, you know...
- Cops don't offend you?
- No, what are you! The cops know me, well done, boys! They greet as they see. One cop, Rinat, he gave me a new crutch! - Radik boasts of a crutch - I have had this one for a long time, but this one, Rinat gave it to me. Good man!

When the war was, the Orenburg people came to raid, so they pressed me. As they see the surname, the first question is: "Are you Shamil, by any chance not a relative?" Yes, I would kill him myself!
- What do you think, why did you have such a life?
- I was young, stupid ... I started playing right after perestroika, so I lost and lost.
- And after the prison, why did you go down? What broke you?
Radik waves his hand hopelessly. How to explain here?

Radik rises heavily to his feet and leaves the "stump".

Having honestly paid Radik for the interview, I went to the car, but this man stopped me:

Hello, - he greeted, - and what newspaper are you from?
- Hello, this is material for the Internet.
The man of knowledge nodded his head.
- This is Radik, - he said, pointing to my interlocutor, - he often comes to our hostel for alcohol. Colorful personality!
- So you know him?
- I know how. He's sick, it's a pity. They, drunkards, have very poor health. My wife has been drinking for many years, I can't help it. Leaves the house and drinks. And when she comes back, it's scary to look at her. The wounds have opened on the legs and do not heal, they rot.
- This is a good place, - he says, pointing to the "stump", - I used to stand here myself. He did not beg, but opened the doors to buyers. Well earned! It used to be 300-400 rubles in two hours! - He says with joy, as if he worked as some kind of top manager (yes, and even then, I doubt that many of the tops with such intonation would talk about their work), - Then , however, I had to leave, here the mafia decides who is standing and who is not. I didn't get in touch.

I look at this man with curiosity, and I understand that he did not appear here by chance. Here is a living and timely example of a person who also difficult fate. Dressed simply but clean. The shirt is fresh, he is pulled up himself, he speaks quickly, clearly, that after Radikovsky the lowing sounds almost like music. I ask him his name and ask him to take a picture. Alexei, feeling calmer, suddenly says:
- Excuse me, can I ask you a question? This is not just a question, but an intelligence test.
- Ask, - I say.
- Such a question: do you know how to walk upside down?
- I know, I always go like this.
- Wow! - Aleksey is surprised in a completely childish way, - and when they asked me, I did not answer correctly! For a long time I could not understand what the catch was here!
Alexey laughs happily and shakes my hand, we say goodbye, wishing each other good health. I'm leaving, and Radik is left to sit on the "stump". There is no point in photographing his day any further. After sitting for a few more hours, he will buy moonshine in the hostel and, filling his eyes, will fall asleep under his native bush.

Dozens of “bottlers” met and questioned did not turn out to be a single homeless person. All of them have their own housing, the elderly receive a pension, those who are younger are trying to receive unemployment benefits. Bottles - their earnings. But these people often encounter the homeless. They suggested where homeless people live in Chernihiv. A man in his forties, jingling his glass containers, on the move told him where to look for a rooming house:

You won't see homeless people on the street during the day. They hide and do not want to be seen by people. Try to go to the area near the rechport, there are as many people as you want. There are boarded up houses there, and they live in them. People live who let them in.

Others suggested in which areas the homeless appear in basements, attics, broken garages, abandoned houses and dachas...

In nature and under the bridge

Fishermen and summer residents, wandering in suburban groves, sometimes unexpectedly stumble upon dugouts and huts inhabited by the homeless. Out of love for nature or unable to compete with other applicants for urban housing, or perhaps because of their criminal past, the homeless arrange their homes away from people. You can always get from the forest to the city, and the proximity of numerous vegetable gardens makes it possible not to stay hungry. People met such huts both near Goncharovsk and in the landings near Levkovichi station. The homeless also live in the suburbs of Chernihiv.

- I went mushrooming in a grove near the Desna. I came across a real dugout near the lake Gypsy! - says Sergey from Chernigov. - There is a washstand on the tree, a basin stands, pots, cauldrons. Only you don’t go, there may be scourges such that they will beat you. And you won’t find it yourself, but I won’t lead.

However, a closer place, where the homeless often lie down, was nevertheless shown to me. To get to it, one had to climb the embankment of the Pedestrian Bridge and go down to the place where the arch connects to the base. You need to move carefully on slippery concrete slabs, otherwise you can move down to the river itself at the “fifth point”. It turns out that a technological tunnel runs along the entire bridge. It can be accessed through a hatch that is nowhere to be seen from the outside. Inside it is quite spacious, you can hide from the wind. There are many “rooms” under the bridge, but all of them are walkable. Judging by the traces left, people come here often.

In abandoned houses

In the Caucasus (Rechport area) you can find several empty, but quite livable houses. But there were no wanderers here either.

From the words of one of the residents of Novaya Street, I learned that homeless people do periodically settle in empty houses. However, a few years ago there was a murder here, and a fire broke out in one of these houses. The burnt ruins have already been demolished. Now this place is a wasteland, and the homeless began to hide.

It turned out that some of them have now moved closer to the center, where many one-story dilapidated houses have also been preserved. I found a bum who called himself Victor in a destroyed building near the Central Market. He was resting right on the floor among the scattered garbage, spreading old cardboard boxes under him. Quiet and inconspicuous. So that even the citizens who ran into the slum to relieve their urgent need did not notice him. The swollen physiognomy and the far-reaching amber testified to Victor's predilection for alcohol-containing liquids. He was pounded. Leaning his cyanotic hands against the wall, he shuffled around the room with difficulty. Unfortunately, even the beer did not help him come to his senses. He could not remember his age, or even what he had done the day before. He only muttered that he was from Tula, had once been in a boarding school. Fear that they came for him from the police, made him remember the names of "familiar cops."

- What should I do, where should I go? Victor constantly called out during parting.

This person needs urgent help. A little more - and he will completely disappear.

Not all vagabonds allow themselves to reach extreme point, after which comes the end. Most still manage to survive and even enjoy life. Alone on the street is difficult, so they often share their life with other similar comrades in misfortune. Together it is easier to find food and stand up for yourself. If you fall ill, a friend will help you get out.

At the Central Market, I met two inseparable comrades Arkady and Alexander (I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the names). Probably, in Chernihiv there is no homeless person "with experience" greater than that of Alexander - 27 years (since 1984)! Arkady has been wandering since 2005, he considers himself the most "cool" homeless person. He sells old things in the market, plastic bottles and bags. He is proud that no one in the city earns more than him. On a good day, he happens to earn up to a hundred hryvnias!

The market day was coming to an end, the frost was gaining strength on the street, and they were in no hurry to go home. Therefore, the friends agreed to tell about some details of their lives, warming themselves with a bottle of vodka right on the sidewalk.

“We live in the basement,” Arkady answered the question about their habitat. - Only you need to come there after dark, and leave - when all the residents of the house have not yet woken up. If they notice that we live there, they will easily kick us out.

It is not surprising that both flatly refused to show their home. If such an opportunity arises, they will gladly use the services of a social rooming house.

- I went to the address of the declared shelter for the homeless. But it turned out that he was still under repair, - Alexander told about his wanderings. They promise to open by the end of the year. And, thank God, we have almost survived the winter. Kind people help us as much as they can. Sometimes they share old clothes, feed them. We regularly go to Ekaterinka for lunch, where they distribute food for the poor in tents. You can walk around Chernihiv cafes and ask for unnecessary food from the back door. Most often they do not refuse, but sometimes they give in the face!

The wanderers get it from the “youngsters”. Just like that, for fun, they can beat a homeless person, break an empty bottle, which he dared to ask, on his head. Many times Alexander had to sew up a broken head, and once he even went to the hospital with an open stomach. He also witnessed the murders of homeless people in basements, miraculously escaped himself.

Every homeless person has a whole bunch of chronic diseases. But going to the hospital is out of the question! Doctors provide first aid, but they don’t take them to the hospital - they need money.

- Do not believe that there are places for the homeless in hospitals! – convincingly exclaimed Alexander. - I went to all these hospitals. Everywhere they demand money!

Not the most best relationship with homeless people and with law enforcement agencies.

- The policemen drive hard, - continued Alexander. - They still beat! People in uniform searched more than once, looking for piercing and cutting weapons. They also reached into their pockets, but they did not find any weapons. But they took all the money for themselves.

Having talked enough, we went to visit Sasha's neighbors. The hosts were at home and willingly accepted the treat. I managed to photograph the interior of their dwelling while the comrades were discussing their plans. The room was located in a broken garage without one wall, but with a roof. At the entrance there is a bonfire, where the owners sometimes cook their own food. In this slum, wrapped in a few blankets, two people and a dog sleep. The dog guards their "cave", and in severe frosts helps to keep warm.

Probably, many people know who the homeless are and what they do most often, but few have tried
talk to them and find out what led them to such a life and who they were in the past. In the Internet
the bomz.org resource appeared, which shows how the homeless live all over the world, there is a sea of ​​interviews
and video reports about homeless people from different countries and cities, the life of the homeless is shown as it really is, not from the best and not from the worst side.

You can support the project, become a reporter, for this, take a photo or video camera and try to interview
at your local bums, or just take a picture of them, and when adding to bomz.org, specify a more accurate place where you found the bum.
Examples of video interviews with homeless people are in the special reports section

When shooting a reportage, we often had to move from place to place, because local security guards asked us to find another place for filming.
Photo of the homeless Seeds made at the station. m. Postal Square, and Semyon himself with woodland and says that the center does not happen very often.
In the video section there is a report with this person and a couple of amateur videos with him (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

A monument to a beggar with an outstretched hand was erected in Chelyabinsk. It is believed that someone who throws a handful of small coins into a dirty hat
and from pure heart stroke the bald head, God will give good luck and prosperity. (Russia / Chelyabinsk region. / Chelyabinsk)

The photo of homeless people was taken on Saksaganskogo street, opposite house 123 (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

Petersburg homeless camped near Vladimir Cathedral(Russia / St. Petersburg and region / St. Petersburg)

Beggars and beggars near St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral, founded in 1108 by Prince Svyatopolk. (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

A grandmother with a dog and a cat begging, this granny can often be found in the "pipe", an underpass near the station. m. Independence Square (Maidan). The inscription on the plate "Help the disadvantaged" (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

The photo was taken on the street. Yaroslavov Val 13, the bum was clean and had a rather intelligent appearance, as well as all the main attributes of a bum, i.e. a checkered bag,
a coat, a hat for money, a wooden stick to limp and an unusual plate with a color photocopy of a Russian passport with his photograph and the inscription BOMZH. (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

In the center of Minsk, in the square near the railway station, feeding the homeless. (Belarus / Minsk region / Minsk)

Homeless people at the metro station Theatrical, there is an interview with them http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1754 (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

There is also a video report for this photo (in the video section http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1745) with a homeless man and a beggar grandmother, filmed at the beginning of B. Khmelnitsky Street, an underpass near the "perepichka". (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

The photo of the homeless woman was taken on the street. Bohdan Khmelnitsky 66, there is also a report with her at the end of the video http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1741 (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

A monument to a beggar with an outstretched hand was erected in Chelyabinsk. It is believed that someone who throws a handful of small coins into a dirty hat and from a clean
hearts will stroke the bald head, God will give good luck and prosperity. (Russia / Chelyabinsk region / Chelyabinsk)

Photographed in one of the parks in Minsk, there is a video report with this bearded tramp. This bum, by the way, composes poems on the go, in Belarusian! (Belarus / Minsk region / Minsk)

He says he had a fight somewhere, photographed in one of the parks in Minsk, there is a video report with him and his bearded friend .. http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1434 (Belarus / Minsk region / Minsk )

Homeless on Nevsky Prospekt (central street of St. Petersburg) (Russia / St. Petersburg and the region / St. Petersburg)

Homeless people sleep in the very center of St. Petersburg, at the intersection of Nevsky and Ligovsky prospects, near the station. m. Vosstaniya (Russia / St. Petersburg and the region / St. Petersburg)

Protest action in the transition, at the entrance to Art. m. Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

Near palace square(Russia / St. Petersburg and region / St. Petersburg)

According to the story of the homeless, he worked for 7 years at the sawmill. Then he was fired, and then he was on the street for non-payment of debts.
There is a small interview with him http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1675 (Russia / Tver region / Torzhok)

Once he lived in a neighboring house, now he has been homeless for 2 years and spends the night in his "Former" entrance, thanks to the "Black Reeltars" for everything! (Russia / Tver region / Tver)

A homeless person sits and reads a newspaper and collects euros, as my friend photographer said, a homeless person has about 80 euros in a cap there. (September 2010) (Italy / Veneto - Venezia / Venezia)

Man made a couple walker on the zone, in total served 25 years, and when he came out he joined the ranks of "free" homeless people. Before that, he worked as a taxi driver,
those. to retirement. It spends the night mostly either on the street or in warm cellars. His earnings are unstable, he earns his bread by begging,
the average is 50,000-80,000 rubles. per day (Belarusian) is about $15-25 a day or $450-750 a month if you work every day. This person has
there is only one dream left, as he says "to climb a 9-storey building and jump headfirst to the bottom ..". An interview with this person can be found in the section
video, report filmed near the Gomel railway station http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1656 (Belarus / Gomel region / Gomel)

The bum, as he calls himself, is a street challenger, former musician and educated person. Filmed in the very center of Riga, Livo Square,
in the video section there is an interview with him and his friends, that is, with local homeless people. http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1664 (Latvia / Latvia / Riga)

Much is not surprising, but even stray dogs work for the homeless. On the pail of one of the dogs, it is written "... Serve for sausage ...". To these dogs
periodically an aunt comes up, who corrects these buckets, although the dogs seem to be trained for this "simple task" and try to manage
hold buckets in your teeth, into which people throw rubles.. The photo was taken under the Peak shopping center, near the station. m. Sennaya. (Russia / St. Petersburg and region / St. Petersburg)

Rivne bum Boris, lives under a bridge, there is an interview with him and his colleagues in misfortune http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1622 (Ukraine / Rivne region / Rivne)

Bobruisk bum with a dog, before becoming homeless - he served somewhere, some friend of his was blown up by a grenade, his father served on the foron, his wife now lives with another martyr ... (there is a video report, see the "video" section ")
In the park, on Minskaya street, i.e. the central street of the city of Bobruisk. http://bomz.org/homeless/?act=get&bomz=1619 (Belarus / Mogilev region / Bobruisk)

A London bum with a recognizable oilcloth bag would have passed for a Russian if he didn’t speak the purest Cockney (Great Britain / England - London / London)

Aggressive bum, so the photo was taken from behind (Seoul Station) ( South Korea/ Seoul / Seoul)

Transition... young man, clearly with mental disorders moving his face all the time. (Seoul Station)
He carries everything with him. (South Korea / Seoul / Seoul)

Grandmother (how I feel sorry for them all), she is sitting at the Seoul Station (South Korea / Seoul / Seoul)

Lily. About 25 years old. According to social worker, three years ago she was a pretty girl.
(Russia / Moscow and Moscow region / Moscow)

We were not welcome everywhere. A lot of vagrants just love their way of life
and the sight of a person with a camera often nullifies all attempts to communicate... (Russia / Moscow and Moscow region / Moscow)

Los Angeles set to allow homeless people to sleep on sidewalks (United States / California / Los Angeles)

Brussels, Belgium is the de facto capital of the European Union (EU). A city of wealth and power, it still has people living in the street.
A group called Polymnia works with homeless people, training them to give walking tours of the city for 50 euros a pop.
The tours, attended by students, social workers and even plain old tourists, reveal the ways in which homeless people survive on the street and brings positive attention to their existence. (Belgium / Bruxelles / Bruxelles)

Homeless people from Angola, some sleep in unfinished houses (Angola/Angola/Luanda)

(Canada / Ontario / Toronto)

Homeless father and son - Kolkata (India / India / Kolkata)

Not far from some church, somewhere in the center of Mogilev (Belarus / Mogilev region / Mogilev)

On the Boulevard des Capucines. (France / Paris / Paris)

(Bangladesh / Bangladesh / Dhaka)

Homeless, somewhere in Istanbul (Turkey / Istanbul / Istanbul)

Central market (Ukraine / Crimean region / Sudak)

China / Zhejiang / Ningbo

Homeless from Preobrazhenka.. (Russia / Moscow and Moscow region / Moscow)

Homeless person in Apraksin Lane (Russia / St. Petersburg and the region / St. Petersburg)

A homeless person is resting in the center of St. Petersburg, on the opposite side of Art. m. Sennaya, street musicians usually play there and the homeless lie down to listen to music .. (Russia / St. Petersburg and the region / St. Petersburg)

Teatralnaya square (center) (Ukraine / Rivne region / Rivne)

central cathedral (center) (Ukraine / Rivne region / Rivne)

Behind the metro station "Kontraktova Ploshcha" lay a person with a unique history of life.
Marvel at yoga viraz guise, and everything will become wiser. Retribution... Retribution share... (Ukraine / Kyiv region / Kyiv)

Bus station (Belarus / Grodno region / Grodno)

Ligovsky prospect 29, sitting, whispering something, people periodically throwing money.. (Russia / St. Petersburg and the region / St. Petersburg)

There are a lot of homeless people in Hungary. I don't know why. The climate is probably good. Nowhere else (except Ukraine) have I met so many homeless people.
Of course, there are probably homeless people in Prague and Berlin and Vienna (Viennese homeless people probably drink coffee instead of singed vodka),
but they are not shown to us, they are kept somewhere away from the eyes of tourists.
And the Hungarians are not shy of their own. Why do I tell them thank you very much. After all, photographs of homeless people always wonderfully set off the impression of the country.
Here are my favorite photos of homeless people from Hungary and the European Union.
On weekends, the homeless of Budapest rest. Photo taken at 11 am in Budapest (Hungary / Budapest / Budapest)

Homeless people have not only their own habits, but also their own style. Pay attention to how well an open shirt goes with a checkered bag.
No matter what, this person is still cheerful, and glad that he is noticed, and not just passed by. (Ukraine / Dnepropetrovsk region / Nikopol)

In hot weather, homeless people like to hide in the bushes, there is shade, it is not so hot and you can take a nap... (Ukraine / Dnepropetrovsk region / Nikopol)

you can’t forbid living beautifully - being homeless too (Ukraine / Dnipropetrovsk region / Nikopol)

Gavrila also reads books that she finds in the garbage: “I recently read The Master and Margarita.
So cute". Yawns sweetly and winks: “Most of all I love science fiction. Sank yu very match.
Drinks from the throat: "Good health to you, gentlemen!". (from the “Bogdanovsky group”) (Russia / Novosibirsk region / Novosibirsk)

And finally, a couple of videos, for example, German homeless people, Frankfurt:

Spanish bums (Madrid)

Polish homeless (Warsaw)

The main thing for them, as they themselves say, is to “relax the soul”, “pass out”. It means, as a rule, one thing: drink a lot of vodka. In this, modern homeless people, of course, are similar to the heroes of the play "At the Bottom". In general, they look at life optimistically. But how do they become like this? A man lived for himself - he worked, had a family. And suddenly something happened. What exactly? Why? Here real story one bum.

It so happened that some time ago I quite often had to visit the old Moscow “Stalinist” house in the center of Moscow. On the first floors of this house there are grocery stores and a restaurant, their office space overlooks the courtyard. Here, in the yard, they bring food, unload it, throw away waste and garbage.

One day I casually chatted with a garbage collector named Konstantin. Little plump man with a mustache. Looks like a retired soldier. His mannerisms and appearance seemed interesting to me. And when he told me his story, it became clear that life itself had left its mark on him. A life without tragedy...

So it goes

So: the house has a large basement, as long as catacombs. There is no civilized garbage chute. As in all elite "Stalinist" houses, garbage is thrown directly from the apartment and flies down the tunnel, but does not fall into special tanks, as it happens in modern houses, but simply falls into the basement. Cleaning up smelly garbage, raking it out of the basement is an unpleasant and hard job, which not everyone agrees to. Is that the Tajik guest workers and ... the hero of our history.

According to the latest statistics, 4.2 million homeless citizens live in Russia. This is a rather rough estimate, since a complete census of persons without certain place residence for obvious reasons would be difficult. The error, according to experts, should be allowed to increase, but also official figure comparable to the size of the Russian army.

Previously, an official worker of the Housing Office used to deal with garbage, but he was expelled because he illegally rented basement premises to persons caucasian nationality under the warehouse of oranges and other perishable products. The inhabitants of the house simply could not bear the presence of "restless" people in their yard and wrote an angry letter to the higher, let's say, spheres. So, the official worker was fired, the merchants also disappeared - there was no one to clean up the garbage. It happened a year ago. And then there was Konstantin. Somewhere, he expropriated a large iron cart from someone and, having settled in the basement, began to earn a living.

The main part of his daily income is the proceeds from the delivery of empty bottles. They are given to him by the restaurant's janitor in exchange for the following service: Konstantin takes out the restaurant rubbish on his cart.

On bottles a day, Konstantin earns about a hundred rubles. The housing and communal services pay him some pennies for the removal (all on the same cart) of garbage from the basement - this provides Konstantin and his friend-colleague Sasha with a relatively calm existence in the basement. It is beneficial for the authorities to pay a penny to a person without documents for work that should be paid quite high.

In addition, the meat department of one of the grocery stores gives him so much meat waste that sometimes he, as he puts it, "has nowhere to go from them." They eat part of it with Sasha themselves, and give part to their friends - “lodgers”, as they call them, that is, poor alcoholics with a residence permit. The “tenants” come from the neighboring houses to chat and drink vodka with Kostya and Sasha in their basement. They drink almost every evening. And after drinking, they fight, as a result of which their faces often appear as an indistinguishable blue mess. More often than not, Konstantin wins these "power battles in the basement" because he drinks less.

Konstantin was born in 1964 in the town of Balakhna, Gorky region. In Gorky, according to him, he graduated in absentia from the State Military pedagogical institute. Then he served and worked in Cherepovets, Khabarovsk, Ayan, Chimkent. His position was - deputy military commissar (he led the mobilization and conscription for military service). In the city of Chimkent, he started a family. But he did not reach retirement and was fired. He still has the habits of a boss, so he knows how to negotiate and produce good impression to the housing authorities. So, he begged for orange overalls and from the outside looks like an official janitor. He was given the keys to the basement, "so that no one wanders there." And all sorts of people roam. But as soon as someone else appears in the basement (except Konstantin and Alexander), a drunken “battle for power” takes place, and there are two of them again.

The main thing for them, as they themselves say, is to “relax the soul”, “pass out”. It means, as a rule, one thing: drink a lot of vodka. In this, of course, they are similar to the heroes of the play "At the Bottom". In general, they look at life optimistically, although Sasha sometimes threatens to hang himself.

Stone to the bottom

A man lived for himself - he worked, had a family. And suddenly something happened. Konstantin believes that everything went wrong for him after his dismissal from the army. Each time he speaks about the reasons for dismissal in different ways. “I got laid off in the army,” he dismissed for the first time. And a few days later, being drunk, he told romantic story about how his wife arranged a showdown with his next mistress at his work. Per true story layoffs, it seems possible to accept the following story.

The interregional network "For Overcoming Social Exclusion" has released a portrait of the average Russian homeless person. It turned out that people living on the streets are very different from those who lived on them 10 years ago. Not only has the level of education or age of the homeless changed, but also the reasons why they found themselves homeless.

“Well, vodka ruined me. There is the regional center where I served in the military registration and enlistment office, it consists of officers of the military registration and enlistment office, employees of the military registration and enlistment office, which means that the border outpost is there, fishermen and goldsmiths. So what is their routine? Like sailors - they constantly go to sea, like goldsmiths - they work for six months, rest for six months. When they return, they, in short, have a local tavern (grin) goes to round the clock work. Well, and, accordingly, it turned out that they returned and began to spend this money. I was a deputy military commissar, Respected man, as they say, and young, so, well, they dragged me into their circle.

And it turned out that we were sitting in a tavern, a messenger from the military registration and enlistment office came running: so and so, here, the duty officer said, the commission actually flies to Kamchatka from Khabarovsk, a very representative commission - a personnel officer, a military commissar himself, a comrade from the district. He says: at four o'clock in the morning they decided to land us. And I'm already good, here. Well, I met the commission. Such a commission flies there once every ten years, to this remote village, you know, and I came in pairs ( with sadness, - A.P.). They told me: "Write a report. So we won't kick you out. Write to own will"Yes. Well, that's it, they fired me. The apartment was a service apartment. I sold my apartment in Cherepovets. And there was a service apartment - while you serve, it's yours. I didn't reach retirement for two years. Because I served constantly for two years for three. At thirty-two, I would already have the right to a pension - that is, you quit and get money. And an apartment. ”

Shortly before this, Konstantin left his family, having quarreled with his wife. “In principle, it was possible to return to your wife,” he says. - But there ... In general, the insult has not yet passed. I got another girlfriend, they were already sort of getting ready to sign, back and forth, but then I realized that this was not it ... "

Further, the biography of Konstantin looks like this. After his dismissal, he went to Tula, where his sister lived. He began working as a freight forwarder (delivering yogurts) under the supervision of his sister's husband. However, after some time he quarreled with him. Here is what Konstantin himself says about this: “He is generally like this in character: why, they say, did you come ?. He also has two children, and there were some troubles - there were debts - he built a cottage and went bankrupt there on some business of his own. Well, and, accordingly, a nervous situation: he constantly yelled at his sister, I defended her ... We grappled with him. And then ... He himself went to Moscow on business, brought the goods. And the goods are perishable - especially in summer (dairy products). And he was not able to arrange, because the entire chain of stores and all relations with the managers were mine ... Well, and, accordingly, he brought a loss. He turned around and left ... without a penny of money.

After that, he went to Kolomna, where, together with some Ukrainian, he rented an apartment, for which he once failed to pay: “I was also invited by a friend to live with him. He rented an apartment, and he himself was from Ukraine. We lived, he was spinning there in his own way, I worked at the parking lot. Every month he said: come on, they say, I pay half, half - you, I'll take it. Well, he talked with the owner, he had lived there before. Then he left without saying a word. Well, the cool guys came and started to butsk me. Turns out he didn't pay at all for almost a year. The account was set. Well, the muzzle is not rubber.

As a result, the hero was left without documents (his passport is still kept as a pledge by the owner of the apartment in Kolomna).

While still renting an apartment in Kolomna, Konstantin began working in Moscow (Moscow, in his view at that time, was the most “living” city). He found himself a place in the parking lot near some hotel - he washed cars and thereby earned his living. When he finally had to move to Moscow, he lived at first, as he puts it, "on carriages", somewhere at the Rizhsky railway station. Scuffle, theft, but, as Konstantin said, "sometimes you can sleep."

One day Konstantin found a large military knife on the ground near the parking lot. He believes that the knife was planted by police officers to complete some business. While he was examining the find, he was arrested (according to him, policemen with ready witnesses were standing somewhere “behind the bushes”). In general, he was “sewn” with a case under the article on the illegal possession of edged weapons. The investigation lasted six months, and all this time Kostya spent time, as he puts it, "in Butyrki."

It is interesting that "in Butyrki" former officer immediately took up a "prestigious position." He sat down, as the convicts say, “on the road”, that is, he passed letters and parcels from the window along a string. And whoever sits on such a road, he himself always gets something, "something falls all the time."

foggy distance

Once Kostya and Sasha earned $200 in the following way. Some rich man noticed them and condescendingly offered to drink. Of course, they didn't refuse. Sasha "nobly" drank without missing, and Kostya looked out for "what can be taken from this boss." The "boss" got drunk pretty quickly, and our heroes "brushed off" 200 bucks. “Well, we drank everything in chorus,” says Kostya. - We have a hundred bucks too ... They deceived us for a hundred bucks. And I drank the other hundred bucks out of grief. This money could well become basic capital for Kostya, as he wants to get out of his current position. Why did he drink them? "Because a hundred bucks was stolen - I was upset."

What does Kostya think about his situation? How did he - a man not stupid and, in general, not weak - find himself so low? “I don't like this life. I made good money last summer. I need to buy a passport. Or at least make a new one. You understand, in general, when I was alone, I didn’t drink so drunkenly, and, for example, when I worked at a construction site (last summer, before prison, Konstantin worked for some time with a team of Ukrainian builders. - A.P.) , they didn’t drink either… They come for the season, earn money during the summer (there are almost no jobs in Ukraine) and live off this money for a year. They didn’t drink there, but then, you understand, such a composition gathered (a grin) that everyone drinks, and you, you’ll sit and watch if you yourself are also weak. I think this summer I will again find a brigade of some kind.

Konstantin plans to earn money and buy a passport, and then go to his family in Shymkent, "to see what and how." He already needs vodka, he drinks every day and spends most of his daily income on it. Kostya said with half annoyance, looking around the basement in order to draw my attention to environment: “You also understand, for example, I have not yet fully adapted to such conditions of life. To sleep on pipes, as they say, in the cold, back and forth, and in order to fall asleep, you would need a bottle. Even more so after a day at work. To stop drinking, as it seems to Konstantin, more civilized conditions of existence are needed. “And the work is civilized: after all, I have two higher educations.”

It is worth adding that inside this social type there is a kind of hierarchy. There are those homeless people who live one day, absolutely not caring about the future. Kostya says: “They don't work at all. They eat pasture, sleep on the street. The basement is the basement, but here I have at least the conditions - hot and cold. cold water, toiletries, there is where to put things, change clothes.

Konstantin is inclined to blame his current situation external circumstances - the sailors who soldered him, the sister's husband, who beat her and kicked him out of the house, the mythical Ukrainian who framed him in front of the owner of the apartment in Kolomna and took away all the money, the head of the housing and communal services, who, although she allows him to live in the basement, but he pays negligibly little for the removal of garbage from the basement ... But Konstantin, of course, recognizes his undoubted "merit" in the circumstances - at least in words. From the facts of this person’s life already known to the reader, it is clearly visible: every time he had normal living conditions (work, family, apartment), he broke down and “fell” - each time lower and lower. So we can say that he himself is to blame. Or - such a fate ... But a person is still a pity.

And the characters in this essay again were expelled from the basement. Konstantin gave the keys to his cart (the only item that still remained his property) to the restaurant cleaner. A round compass hangs on the keys as a keychain - symbolically.