Street Walker

Kulcsi · Thu, 01/23/2020 - 14:02

As a high school student, and even in my twenties, I couldn't imagine why anyone would choose a career in law. Learning long paragraphs, drafting in convoluted sentences, fiddling with contracts can't be much fun - or so I thought. Then the years went by, and the picture became more apparent. Working with Dr. Henrietta Dietz, a lawyer at Integral Vision, for the past decade has helped a lot.

The real turning point came when Heni joined the Utcajogász Verein and told stories about what was happening on the streets. About the hardships of being homeless. What it's like when a defendant in a courtroom is not allowed to enter his courtroom. Instead, he follows the events with a camera, microphone, and a courtroom guard.

Street Watch staff sit outside every Friday afternoon and provide free legal aid services. All this is to give the homeless or living in housing poverty minimal opportunity to assert their fundamental rights. This is a critical issue now that the law has come into force, making it a crime to live in public places.

Every Friday, a dozen homeless people or have housing problems receive help from streetwalkers. People who cannot afford a lawyer or have nowhere to turn for legal advice turn to them.

The legal help is provided voluntarily, but they cannot meet the high demand without the work of additional helpers. They ensure that equipment is delivered to the scene, talk to people in the queue, and maintain the client reception. They take care of everything the lawyers cannot do during the advice sessions. They can provide information, for example, where and when the subsequent food distribution will take place or which hostel to go to.

The annual maintenance budget for this work is six hundred thousand forints. This year we have decided to contribute 100,000 forints to this amount. There are still two days left in the campaign; half of the budget is missing. If you would like to contribute to Heni's work, please join us!

Street Walk­er