The program was made possible with the help of the Visegrád Fund, within the “No-one should sleep on the street – complex sensitizing campaigns on homelessness in V4 countries” project.
So far, we have already given 14 sensitizing lectures about homelessness at the Commercial High School in Terézváros. The teacher we had already worked with asked us to talk to a class of 20 students over 18 sessions between the 2nd and 4th of September.
On the 2nd September – the first day – we organized a ‘Living Library’. We went to the benches of Városliget with 7 living books and one moderator. The location was chosen to lower the risk of infection during the pandemic. 19 students came to the lecture with their teacher. The titles of the books were:
- Alcoholic
- Rough sleeper
- Gay
- Homeless person living in shelters
- Transgender
- Blind homeless
Because of their lack of knowledge and experience, the students were intimidated by the gay and transgender books. However, as we can see from this session, when people are given the chance to get to know the unfamiliar, they can learn from the experience whilst conquering their fears. By the end, 12 of the students took part in the talks with the gay and transgender living books (i.e. 6 per book), so in the final round, there was no one left to rent out the alcoholic and shelter homeless books.
After an introduction by the moderator, the students started “reading”- interacting with – the live books in four, 40 minutes segments. The students were always active, respectful and curious. The class showed outstanding behaviour compared to our previous experiences, but they got a little tired by the 4th conversation. The living books also had a good time with the active students in the pleasant atmosphere, and the EKH program were able to introduce 4 newcomers to the ‘living book’ method.
