Charity versus Solidarity
We want your time, not your money
Som Sostre helps homeless people in the city to get nutritious food and some affection in a hostile environment. Cristian Lienlaff, founder of Som Sostre, taught our students about the needs of his organisation.
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According to Lienlaff, Som Sostre tries to avoid charity, because charity is a way of helping others from a position of superiority. When we help someone from solidarity we help them from the same level. We give our time to help them. We treat them with friendliness and respect.
The founder of Som Sostre also said that access to nutritious food is an important problem in our city, but there is something still more important than that: visibility. Homeless people are ignored in the street and they never get any affection from us. We avoid eye contact with them, and they really need to talk to someone who can give them a bit of affection.
When Som Sostre gives food to homeless people, some of them just forget about the food after a while, because their most basic need is to talk to someone who is friendly to them.
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