A Visit to the Homeless
‘The weather his week is going to be much colder due to the cod wave from the north. The lowest temperature will even reach 6°C in the following Saturday. With occasional rain throughout the whole week, citizens should wear more clothes before going outdoors…’ the weather reporter on the TV said.
‘Wow, 6°C in the urban district! How crazy is this?’ I mumbled while pulling myself out of the comforter but then quickly squeezed myself back in it.
‘It will only be colder from now on. Come on. Don’t be lazy! Get up now. It is already 11 o’clock,’ my grandma came from the kitchen.
‘Such freezing weather makes me want to do nothing but stay away from the frozen kingdom by staying under the blanket. I’m not going out!’
15 minutes later, I heard my grandma again, ‘Your breakfast is ready. I’ve made your favourite breakfast.’
That was such a tempting remark and smelling the fresh egg sandwiches, I was defeated. I slowly crawled out of my bed and quickly snatched my down jacket. After zipping up my jacket to the collar, I put my warm blanket on the chair and sat down to enjoy my breakfast in order to warm myself up.
After finishing doing my morning routine, I was ready to go out. I brought a hand warmer and put it into my pocket so that I could hold it anytime, and of course, I made sure that I brought an umbrella big enough to shelter me from the freezing raindrops.
Then I went out to Sham Shui Po with my grandma to visit my great grandpa. 20 minutes of bus ride wasn’t a long time and we arrived at the Sham Shun Po Elderly Home. My grandma served him with hot carrot soup and meat congee. We watched him finishing the meal and chatted with him until 3 o’clock. Then we left and bought food for our dinner.
In case you don’t know this place well, let me tell you something about here. It is a rather old district accommodating many elderlies and homeless people. On my way to the wet market, we walked past a footbridge. Forma distance we saw something trembling under which the bridge. We went closer and discovered that an old man was lying there. He was trying to keep himself warmer by wrapping himself up with a broken blanket which was so small that it couldn’t cover the whole body of the old man. He was lying on a ‘bed’ formed by a few cardboards with his bare foot being outside, being attacked by the strong and cruel cold wind. Worse still, the icing droplets that were falling down occasionally seemed to be more frequent and heavy from time to time. And it was clear that all he had got for sheltering him was the wall of this bridge and ‘weak defense’ which was obviously not enough to keep him warm.
‘Why don’t you go to the temporary shelter organized by the government?’ I walked up to him and asked.
‘My shoes were stolen a few weeks ago. I dare not walk on the freezing cold road,’ He answered weakly.
I was shocked and wondered what to do at first but then my grandma tapped my shoulders, ‘Well, there were some shops selling cheaper shoes over there. You can…’
Without listening till the end, I had already rushed to the front because even I, being such a ‘well-equipped’ young teenager couldn’t stand the cold air mixed with rain droplets. I could never imagine how he felt. So I brought a pair of large-sized shoes for him and gave him my umbrella and hand warmer. We also took him to the temporary shelter nearby.
He was very grateful for our help and tears were coming out from his eyes, ‘You have no idea how grateful I am now. Thank you for your gentle help. Thank you.
‘You’re welcome. It is not a big deal. Hope that you won’t lose your belongings again,’ I held his rough cold hands and replied.
From the trembling voice and the running tears, I could tell how grateful he was. And the smile I couldn’t help wearing on my face also told how happy I was after helping him. If I could just spend some time and effort to perform some kind acts, no matter how trivial they might seem to be, I would be happy to do so. With just a little care and love to the people surrounding us could already change the neighborhood, society or even the whole world! Why not do so?
This kind of homeless people are very common in old districts like Sham Shun Po. My case only showed the tip of the iceberg of the problem. I am so lucky that I sometimes take my comfortable life for granted and forget that there are people who lack a proper place to sleep, not having even a normal sized blanket, clothing and shoes to fulfill the basic human needs. They are never served with a warm breakfast in the morning. They are faced with cold wind in winter or the baking hot sun in summer. They don’t have a choice to be lazy but to collect cardboards, newspapers, bottles, cans and glasses despite the bad weather. I believe if every one of us can offer our helping hand to them, the living conditions of them can be better. We can at the same time enjoy the fulfillment of being good people performing good deeds.