Maya Vargek

Walking through the city a month ago, I saw a young woman with a small child on the street begging for money… people were turning their heads, even somebody said some nasty comment there. I stand there for a few minutes and look … I felt sad because no one has approached that girl or give her a nice word.

Upset by the behaviour of the people passing by, I approached the girl and asked what caused her to sit with her baby on the street and the begg. She looked at me with big brown eyes full of sorrow and said: “You ask me that?”… I said yes… The girl looked at me in disbelief and replied: “You know, maybe in the day one man stops and asks me something and it is so strange that you want to know something about me.”

I answered that I understand … and I urged her to briefly describe what caused that she is in this situation. Her story goes like this:

„When I was little I was a happy child, grew up in a small village in Slavonia with my two brothers and parents… we didn’t have much but we were happy. One day, as a cause of unhappy events my father died and then our troubles have started. My mother was sick and couldn’t work. My brothers went working in Germany and I went to Zagreb in high school. Two years I was living in students dorm, being a great student, but I couldn’t afford to continue my education. I dropped out of school and started working as a cleaning lady. A few months later I met a father of my child, we were in love and really happy. But our happiness didn’t last long because when I told him that I am pregnant he ran away. The story was no different on my job because I was instantly fired when I told my boss that I am pregnant. Now, I do not have money but luckily we have a roof over our heads. I found a small room for the cheap price, nothing special… bed and two chairs. The reason why I am on the street begging for money is the fact that I can’t work, she is too small and dependent on me and I want to keep our room.

Struck by her story, I started wondering why none has helped this young woman who didn’t have a chance to live a normal life? I thanked her for sharing her story with me because I know it was very hard, gave her all the money I had at the moment and also my phone number so she can contact me at any time.

„Trust me when I say that words of support mean a lot more than the money you gave to me,“ she said.

Why is so hard to us to spend some time helping someone? Where did the humanity disappear? Did we become so obsessed with our lives that we are not interested living as a society? Why is the number of zeroes more important than being a responsible member of society?

It takes a little to help someone, don’t turn your head, don’t say „it’s not my concern“ because you never know what life brings tomorrow.

Maya Vargek

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