In our searches for young homeless people in the streets of Bucharest, we came across Florin, 18. He was sitting on the bare earth in a small park, begging, close to the sidewalk of a quite central street. It was obvious that he was missing one leg from the knee down. Here is our conversation with him:

“Hello. Would you like to have a talk with us?”

“Yes. It’s ok.”

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from Gaiesti.”

“Oh… So you came here by train?”

“Yes. I was born in Gaiesti.”

“And how long have you been here?”

“Since last night.”

“Last night? Are you alone? Why did you come here?”

“I came with my sister. She’s 26 years old. I’m trying to make a buck. I don’t have anything to eat. I want some crutches too [….].”¹

“Are your parents in Gaiesti now?”

“My dad passed away, and my mother is still alive. She is very sick with asthma² at the lungs.”

“Oh, so she coughs a lot… “

“Yes, we live in an adobe house- the earth to make it was taken from the lake you know?

“How did you lose your leg?”

“I lost it in a car accident near Europa³, when I was 17.I was run over by a maxi-taxi. The doctors couldn’t save it. They put me to sleep and when I woke up my leg was gone.”

“Do you come in Bucharest every day and go back home in the evening?”

“Not every day. Every two weeks. I can ride the train free of charge. It’s a tough life. My mother is in hospital; my brother and sister are gone all day and return late at night; my brother is often angry and he drinks; I stay home and watch TV. We have an old TV set, black and white.”

“How much do you earn when begging?”

“Oh… it depends on how people are. Sometimes I get 70 lei, sometimes only 20 lei.”

“Did you go to school?”

“Not much. I only made it to the 2nd grade.”

“Oh. And can you read?”

“No.”

“Why did you quit?”

“I was afraid for my mother. She has been sick since I was 3 months old. I didn’t want to leave her alone.”

“And did your elder brothers agree with you not going to school?”

“No. my brother kept telling me to go to school because “No education means a hard life, no pain, no gain”. But I didn’t want to go.”

“Did your brothers go to school?”

“My sister went until 8th grade, and my brother is still in school, in the 10th grade.”

“Has it happened to you to sleep in the street?”

“I have sometimes slept in railway stations.”

“Have you ever been attacked?”

“No. I have tried to stay out of trouble. And if someone picked on me, the others told him : <leave him alone, can’t you see he is a poor bump?>”

“Have you ever tried to take drugs?”

“No, never. I don’t drink either. Only soda or coffee. I drink coffee very rarely.”

“Do you have any plans for the future? Don’t you want to get a job?”

“I want to have a job, to have a good salary, to earn 700⁴ lei per month maybe. I want to work around oil wells, on roads, this kind of stuff... ” 

“Ok. Thank you! Take care!”