Petersburgers helped a homeless girl

In September, residents of the Central District drew attention to a homeless girl who spent the night near the Kazan Cathedral and talked with pigeons. Dozens of people began to discuss in social networks how to help her in front of the advancing cold weather. Petersburg artist Anna Abrashina found relatives homeless and organized a reception from a psychiatrist. In early October, a 26-year-old girl who spent the night on the street for almost nine months, sent for treatment, although before that the doctors refused to take her to the hospital.

Abrashina told the “paper” why she decided to help the homeless, how she managed to find her loved ones and what is known about the fate of the girl.

Anna Abrasina

Artist

- In the early spring, I left my arch on a small stable and saw a girl with a radiant smile. She walked towards and looked straight into the eyes. As it turned out later, this girl was remembered not only by me-she stood out too much: after all, this is a rarity in our city after winter so that someone smiles like that.

Subsequently, I realized that the girl is homeless. Over time, she began to look appropriate: untidy dirty clothes, a weathered face, several layers of things. She could sit somewhere on the sidewalk near the Zara store [on Nevsky Prospekt], leaning on the lantern. And always on the sunny side - it was so warmed. She spent the night mainly near the Kazan Cathedral.

I tried to take the girl from the street, but she did not make contact: she looked, smiled, but did not say anything. You ask her if she wants to eat, she nods her head. You ask whether to help her find housing or whether it is worth calling doctors, - he shakes his head violently, they say, no. She did not show aggression, only smiled-because of this she was even nicknamed a cartoon.

As I understand it, passers -by helped her all spring and summer, offering food. I thought that by winter she would leave home: young people come to Petersburg to hang out for the summer, and then returns. But she did not return.

It initially seemed to me that she was not a very healthy person. Then it turned out that she spoke only with pigeons. I thought that the girl should look. I looked at the lists [for the search for missing people] "Lisa Alert", but there were only cards with photographs. And I could not find her among them.

In September, I saw a post in the group [residents of the Central District] in Facebook “Five Corners”, [which was made by the gardener of the Kazan square Volodya Rodenkov]. We met with him, he showed that the girl spends the night in the bushes - it became clear that the situation should definitely be more serious. After all, the summer was already ending, cold began.

The next morning I met this girl, began to offer help more persistently. She did not talk. In parallel, Volodya called the “night” (a charitable organization helps homeless - approx. “Papers” ), but they did not have the opportunity to help - they help only those people who want to help them.

The girl was photographed, and I began to look for her on the Internet. I found a screenshot of the article in which her name (Elena) was called and her story was told (the girl ran away several times from the house in the village of Nizhny Novgorod region due to illness, her relatives submitted applications to the police, local media wrote about this-approx. “Paper” ). I was able to contact her mother - she confirmed that the girl had a mental disorder.

We tried to call an ambulance so that the girl was taken from the street. I explained to them a diagnosis, but the doctors refused - they said that they had no right, since she did not want to go voluntarily. Plus, it is nonresident, in absolutely dirty clothes, and treatment takes a lot of time. I also applied to the police on my own behalf, but no one contacted me.

In the future, only personal contacts helped me. After my next Facebook post , people who were ready to help responded. I was written by the parishioners of the Church of Ingria on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, participants in the organization Annaporit from Annenkirche, Novaya Gazeta correspondents and others. Probably the desire to help infects other people.

As a result, we managed to send Elena to spend the night in a social apartment [Christian charitable organization] “Army of Salvation”. It turned out to arrange a conversation with a psychiatrist who wrote a direction, because of which on October 12 an ambulance took the girl to the hospital, whose head physician agreed to help us. There, Elena will be treated for a long time, and then they will be sent for rehabilitation. We have already visited her and plan to continue to do it.

I don’t know how to explain in one sentence why I decided to help this girl. Imagine: you go to bed at a warm bed at night, hide in a blanket and beat a pillow. And at this time, another person tries to fall asleep on the street in the rain on the branches. I understood this - and decided to go to the end. Of course, there are many organizations that help homeless people. But there is not a single organization that would help this girl. As one psychiatrist told me: “People at the junction of homelessness and illness are nowhere. Nobody helps them. "

"Paper" launched a special project about the employment of the homeless . This is a series of interviews and foot and audio excursions from the wards of the "Overnight"