Winter

I can't stand the cold. This morning I was waiting for a bus. Standing for about twenty minutes in -7 is not pleasant. Shivering from the inside out even though I was wearing a couple of layers of clothes was not pleasant. I began to wonder how the homeless feel in Warsaw. There are many of them. Of course there are shelters available however there are conditions upon entry. Those under the influence of drugs or alcohol are usualy not welcome and end up in the cold. When temperatures reach -10 or -20 or more, survival is grim and unfortunately many homeless die.

Poverty is a huge problem in Poland. Everyday I see homeless individuals on the streets of Warsaw. They are not looked after. There's no workable system in place to help them. They are treated as if they are nothing, left on the streets to beg, steal, and drink. After a while people stop noticing them, they simply begin to blend into the background of the city. Some choose to be there, others have little choice.

According to the Krakow Post (www.krakowpost.com) more than 300,000 homeless are fighting to survive this winter. That's a huge number of people at risk of dying this season. Over the New Year long weekend alone there were more than 13 deaths in Poland due to extremely low temperatures (www.news.ninemsn.com.au). Cases of hyperthermia are common every winter, yet not enough is being done to fix the problem. Sometimes a bit of spare change can make a huge difference. To most people a couple of zloty won't make a difference, to someone on the street the same couple of zloty could mean everything.