01/11/2006

Moscow Shelter Opens for the Homeless

Homeless women in Moscow will have a new roof over their heads this winter, thanks to the work of the Community of Sant'Egidio.

The Rome-based community, as part of its Friends on the Street program, recently opened a house for homeless women who often spend long days, even during the coldest winter months, on the subway begging for money.

The Community of Sant'Egidio points out that these "subway" people are often elderly women who in the past had worked as teachers, company directors, physicists, chemists and engineers.

They are "daughters and mothers of a Soviet Union that no longer exists," and that has left very little in the way of retirement pensions, the community said in a statement.

"Every year several hundred die from the cold, a tragedy that is announced and foreseen," it added.

The Community of Sant'Egidio said that with the help of some "people of good will," they were able to build the house.