(no subject)

[farnam]

There is a child sitting, crying brokenheartedly, outside bank of Ireland on O'Connell street, just accross from Trinity College. He is 16 years old, homeless, sleeping in doorways, and hasn't eaten in days. What a proud country we live in. Hurrah for Ireland, one of the top 10 wealthiest countries in the world.

I can't get this image out of my head, and its eating at me as I should be working. I was comming back from a meeting this morning, dithering between the idea of going into the library to work, or home to my computer, and blindly passing by the beggers as usual, not paying them any heed. I'd already walked past him when it registered with me just how young he was, and how deperate his silent shaking sobs seemed, so I went over and asked innanly 'do you need help?'. What kind of a stupid question was that. Of course he needed help, but nothing I could do for him, not then and there.

At 16 he isn't allowed into the adult hostles where you pay by the night. He has to go to a youth facility, where you pay by the month, so he has to riase €40 from begging before he can have a shower, a meal or a roof over his head. He looked like he had been on the street for weeks, at least, and not eaten in probably longer. His eyes and cheeks were deeply sunken, he was totally emaciated. I asked him if the Community Welfare Officer could not help him out, and he said he'd been there, and told that he had to make an appointment, as she had a lot of other people to see. His appointment was some time next week. Thats just great, let the child spend another week sleeping on the streeet with no food. I would add that he told me he was 16, but he looked a lot younger.

I pathetically gave him €3, which was all I had on me, and then wandered off towards the bus stop. From there I phoned the Vincent de Paul, who told me to phone Focus Ireland. They said that they had a child homelessness team, and they would go down and get the kid and get him into a hostle. And so I got the bus home.

Why didn't I do more? What more could I have done? Maybe I could have stuck around to ensure that the Focus Ireland people really came. The woman on the phone SAID they would send someone, but she also sounded bored out of her tree, like the call was just so routine, and not exactly a high priority. I have a huge amount of work to do, and I'm toying with the idea of going back into the city centre to see if he's still there, whcih is a stupid, illiogical decision anyway. Theres not much more I can do if he is, and if he's gone it confirms nothing either. Perhaps I could phone Focus Ireland again, but I'd probably just get through to a different receptionist who wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about anyway. really, I should just get to sending off these work emails that I have to send, but my mind keeps drifting