Restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic have affected businesses, education, culture and people’s opportunities for live communication. Since there is no way to rate which area of our lives has suffered the most, we will add to the list of those affected by the crisis a large group of people – those without a home.

In the winter months, the care for homeless people in the northern Bulgarian city of Ruse is mainly overtaken by the Bulgarian Red Cross. For more than 10 years, the dining room organized on the premises of a property of the organization has been open to people without a home of their own. They also had the option to use a bathroom. The "bathroom" service for these people is a form of luxury that replaces the waters of the Danube in winter.

But because this year everything is different, homeless people in Ruse now have access to neither a hot meal nor a bath. Such are the current restrictions - people are not allowed to eat together and gather at close range. Hot meals are replaced by canned food, which should suffice for a week - beans with sausage, boiled meat, pate, mackerel, sandwiches and a soup. The package also includes a disinfectant with a protective mask. Last year, a total of 48 people sought help, now there are more.

Zdravko is one of these homeless people. He has impaired vision, but is still waiting for retirement.

Zdravko lost his home after his divorce from his wife. He has been homeless for at least 10 years, living on benches in the summer, and now he has settled in a basement.

"I have acquaintances so when I walk in the centre there is always someone who would give me some coins. I can also beg - you don't steal, you don't cheat, you don't lie. There are people who give, there are people who don't give”, the man says about his woes.

Vasil has also been homeless for many years. He remained without a home after family problems. He worked all his life in the Bulgarian state railways.

"I was laid off. Who wants to keep you at work at the age of 60 and who wants to hire you again? Wherever I go, when they hear my age, they say – do wait for our call."

Panayot is grateful to receive food, he says: "It is important that there is someone to think about people like us, too." He fell ill and was left homeless.

"I have many skills. I've worked in different places - my main profession is a master baker."

Red Cross volunteers are the people who help the homeless. Antoaneta Yabanozova organizes them:

"These are people living above the rules, they don't like to follow the rules. It's normal and we accept it. We don't judge them, on the contrary - we respect their desire to lead such a way of life. We try our best to help them, but it's a fact that they really need help, some don't admit it, but they need help. We have a lot of new faces recently - today we have three new ones and yesterday we had three - so 6 new ones".

In recent years we seem to have become less sensitive to the misfortunate fate of homeless people. This year everything is different, though. The restaurants whose staff used to set aside a loaf of bread and a plate of stew for one or two such people are now closed. Many of us have a home office, but we should not let our generosity also be left at home because there are people on the street. People like Zdravko, Vasil and Panayot, and they need a helping hand.

Written by Asya Pencheva

Edited by Elena Karkalanova