I spent a night on the streets to check how it feels to be a homeless in Lithuania

Hello everyone I'm a Lithuanian teenager and I have been a member of this sub for a while and I was very curious how it feels and how it is to be homeless in our country. Due to knowing lithuanian language and I'm a lithuanian myself I decided to check these things and spent a night on the streets before writing it. <br><br>I'm studying in Kaunas and I wanted to check out how homeless help centers are working in Kaunas City. Due to my studies I don't have a car so I decided to walk, these homeless help centers are all around the city and some are very far from the city center. <br><br>I started with visiting Kaunas day center. Service was bad and they were unfriendly. They had some empty rooms with beds but I didn't get any answer why they aren't offering a night stay to their clients. They were offering food and staff but for some reason they didn't have any food in these days. <br><br>I then went to Kaunas night shelter. Night shelter is working on a schedule and people are supposed to sign up to their services in advance. If you don't sign up you have to pay 5€. I asked how they going to pay it if they have no money and they answered that they ask money from strangers. It was staffed with very unfriendly and toxic people. <br><br>During my journey I met some homeless people. Due to being lithuanian I could easily talk with them and ask about their situation. I won't use names to keep their privacy. <br><br>One person I met was a drunk alcoholic who also had some mental health issues. He was living in a night shelter and said that he has very bad health and that he's not capable of working and that he's making his living by going through the trash and picking out empty plastic bottles for recycling. <br><br>I also talked to a couple who were sleeping on the streets. One of them had a job and the other one was on a sick leave from work due to being injured. They were living on the streets for three days and they were sleeping in a tent. They said that they been to a night shelter and the night shelter asked them to pay a fee for getting a spot. They said that they didn't have any more money so they decided to sleep on the streets. They said that they didn't want to ask money from anyone and that they didn't feel like they deserve to be treated like beggars. They told me that they are planning to live on the streets until they find jobs and make their living by themselves. <br><br>I also met a person who was living on the streets for 7 months. He been to a night shelter and told me said that it was so bad that it's better for him to sleep on the streets. He told me that it's very dirty in these places and they are full of bugs. <br><br>I wanted to check out how social workers working on Kaunas public transportation. I hitted a bus and I asked the driver if he saw a homeless person would he call social services to make sure that the person is fine. Driver told me that he won't call anyone and he will just kick the person out. <br><br>I continued to walk and I met a social worker who works on buses. I asked her how often she uses her radio to call social services. She told me that she never calls them and that she only calls police. <br><br>I met another guy who was living on the streets for many years. He told me that he used to work in a construction but he had an accident and injured his arm. He told me that he doesn't have any more friends and he has no one to call for help. He told me that he used to live in a night shelter but night shelter kicked him out and left him with nothing. He told me that he's living in a tent and he has no job. He told me that he's feeling very lonely and no one wants to talk with him. <br><br>I ended my journey on a night shelter and I decided to spent a night here. I asked the staff what should I do to not break any rules. I was told to stay in the room and not to leave because they have no power to call police for strangers. Night shelter was dirty and felt very poor and smelly. We had a mandatory dinner before going to the room. Food was poor and smelly, it felt like I been served a dog food. I was paranoid and scared and I didn't want to eat it. <br><br>I and others went to the room to sleep. One guy was very drunk and he was behaving very aggressively. He was shouting and punching walls and other things. I asked staff if they going to call someone. They said that they won't call anyone and that they going to let him to spent his anger. In these times I felt unsecure and I didn't felt safe to be around. <br><br>I was ready to go to sleep and I was very scared. I won't forget this night when these drunk people were shouting and behaving very aggressively. I slept in a room with 5 strangers. I was very scared and I didn't sleep good because I had very bad anxiety. <br><br>My conclusion is that being homeless in Lithuania is very hard. Homeless people are living in very bad conditions and some of them don't have any kind of help. Homeless people are treated like beggars and they are not treated like humans. It's very hard to be a homeless in Lithuania and it's not very easy to get off the streets.