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| Princess Marie received a pair of potholders knit by a homeless. Foto: Jens Nørgaard Larsen, Scanpix |
Princess Marie’s official tour of Russia also included Sct. Petersburg where, among others, she visited Nochlezhka.
It is one of the few places in the mega polis where homeless can receive assistance.
Nochlezhka is a long-term partner of DanChurchAid.
The manager of the centre, Maxim Jegorov, showed her around and told about the work of the centre and the problems of the homeless:
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Homelessness |
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More than four million people in Russia are homeless. |
”There is no reason to hope, if there is no hope,” said the Princess, when they discussed the reason why people become homeless.
Princess Marie also got the opportunity to talk to some of the users of the centre, which was a great experience for them.
Among others the women’s unit, where 14 women live in a dormitory of approx. 20 square metres:
"She is so small and chic, very pretty and so kind to talk to. Imagine that she took her time to visit us," one of the women said to a Russian journalist, who later interviewed her to a news broadcast.
Even if there are several million homeless people in Russia, they are looked down upon.
"The homeless belong to the most unpopular group of people in the country. Therefore, the Russians were quite surprised that the Princess opted to focus specifically on this group. They had probably expected that a real princess should visit e.g. a state orphanage or the like,” explains Maria Nedergaard, who is DanChurchAid’s country representative in Russia.