‘Most of all, I would like to experience love. To meet a man. Every day I try to be positive and grateful. I often remind myself of this.’ These are the good intentions of S., a visitor to the winter emergency shelter in Eindhoven, which Springplank is realising on behalf of the municipality of Eindhoven. The winter emergency shelter is a temporary night shelter for the winter emergency, so no one sleeps outside due to freezing danger. The winter emergency shelter has around 30-60 visitors daily. These are people who cannot or do not want to use the regular shelters for the homeless. We asked some visitors about their good intentions.
Visitor S. stayed on the streets for almost a year. Since the winter emergency shelter opened, she has been able to sleep there. ‘For a long time, I was with my sister. We had a nice home.’ We also asked her what she is looking forward to in 2022. S. replied: ‘Sleeping better, because I sleep badly or very little. And of course, I hope to get a house.’
So we speak to 4 visitors to the winter distress who all have their own stories. Good intentions, inspiring life mottos and bewildering life stories. Visitor, T., tells us: ‘I was a car mechanic and I would like to fix things again, and I would like to master the Spanish language, for example. I don't want to go down in life, but up.’ Another visitor, M., tells us about what a day looks like for her: ‘Today I went to pick up my medicine. I do that once a week. If there are books I like to read true stories. Apart from that, I walk a lot. Sometimes I check how others are doing.’
Not everyone has resolutions, as we meet visitor V. He has been working as a security guard for 23 years and has no resolutions. ‘I don't have resolutions, but the most important thing is health; as long as you can get up healthy.’ We asked V. why he had no resolutions, he tells us: ‘If I promise something to another person or myself and it doesn't work out, I am disappointed, that's why I have no resolutions.’ M., on the other hand, knows how to articulate her resolutions well: ‘Ideally, I would like a house for myself and where I can receive visitors. Hopefully that will be possible in Eindhoven, but actually it doesn't matter to me.’ We ask M. what she would like to do more of in 2022. M. says: ‘More contact with family. If you stay away for one night here then your sleeping place is given away. My family lives near the border, so it is not easy to be back in time on the same day. Of course, they can also come this way. Only everything is closed due to corona measures. You can walk together in a city where everything is closed, but it's not that much fun. I go there once a week anyway. Ideally, I would like to see them more often. Especially my grandchildren. One of them no longer leaves me when I visit.’
What are your good intentions for 2022? 1TP9First work
