Drifting through Cityscapes Drifting through Cityscapes MTL final copy | Page 141

Seeing the problem Drifting through our hometown Belgrade, in December of 2018 we kept our eyes peeled, our emotions open, and our prejudices aside. We tried to forget every- thing we know and to look at the city for what it really is, hoping we would see even the smallest things that we started to ignore over time because they were so familiar. It wasn’t long until we saw the biggest contrast in the city center, which was like a thorn stuck in our eye. This resounding contrast was between the surface and the underground of the center of Belgrade. The surface was decorated in massive shining lights, huge billboards with commercials for expensive things, the picture was all over happy and joyful, all the passersby were smiling taking pic- tures with holiday decorations, and carrying bags from shopping in Knez Mihailova street. Meanwhile, if you would just take a few steps down the stairs that lead to the underground, the picture would drastically change. You would find abandoned shops, homeless people and beggars in the cold, smelly and dirty underground of the same town center. These passageways become new homes for the less fortunate people in the winter season. One more place where they can be found is the tram no. 2, of which the route is a circle in the expanded town center. The first sign of winter in the city isn’t the first snow due to global warming and isn’t holiday decorations because they put those up months in advance, the new sign of winter in Belgrade is the homeless people sleeping in the tram no. 2. Describing the problem The homeless people who live in the underground passageways in the city center become the usual sight for the people of Belgrade, so much that seeing them there is expected and normal. Two main underground passageways with this sight are the one next to the hotel Moskva and the one at Zeleni venac. Because of their location, they are on the crossroad of daily routes of people going to work, kids going to school and pedestrians going through town. At first, this sight evoked all kinds of emotions in passersby, like disgust, fear, empathy, but as time passed these emotions faded and morphed into indifference. In the daylight, people usually turn their head the other way so they don›t have to think about this upsetting sight. And at night, when there are just a few people passing by, looking the other way is usu- ally from fear of the unknown, and one’s safety. Help for homeless people shouldn’t always be money. When you give them something else, you should be prepared for all kinds of reactions. Luckily if you give them food and you get a bad reaction you can easily distinguish if they are really homeless or just playing a role. If you suspect that the money is going to be spent on cigarettes, alcohol or drugs, you can always give them food, clothes or whatever you think they need the money for. This way you can do a good deed without the fear that your generosity will be misused. Especially if the beggars are children, it’s important to have in mind that kids are often used by »beggar mafia« and the money you are giving doesn’t go to them, but only encourages this abuse.