Dealing at eye level with GoBanyo
What is the story behind it? Where did the motivation to found GoBanyo come from?
People who have to survive on the streets have hardly any access to clean and safe sanitary facilities. We wanted to take a mobile solution to places where showers and toilets, as well as care products and new underwear, are urgently needed. Our co-founder and ambassador Dominik has also had to survive on the streets himself for ten years and knows from his own experience how urgent the need for personal hygiene is, especially on the streets.
What are the biggest changes since you started your work?
The biggest changes are that the topic of personal hygiene and health care is more present, especially in Hamburg – not only in the city’s dialogue, but also at round tables of politicians and authorities. Since we have been doing our work – mainly sanitary facilities, but also education and communication work – Hamburg has increased the number of public sanitary facilities. In particular, free access to toilet facilities has been expanded.
What is the response from the population in Hamburg?
Those in the population who are barely familiar with the problem of homelessness often do not realise that access to sanitary facilities is a major challenge for people on the street. We often receive feedback that our claim ‘Washing is dignity’ has given people a lot to think about. Our shower bus is considered important by both the authorities and the local population – at least in our perception.
What are the biggest hurdles in caring for homeless people?
One of the biggest hurdles is that there are not enough expert escorts to provide individualised support, such as intensive housing searches, visits to the authorities or accompaniment to medical care. The (street) social workers we have in Hamburg usually accompany up to 50 people per week – this leaves little time for individual support. From our point of view, the ratio of accompanying person to individual must be significantly reduced so that sustainable help can take place. Because on the street, you start from scratch every day.
Welche Erfolge konntet ihr in eurer Arbeit feststellen?
For us, every person who feels comfortable in their own skin again is a success. So far, we have been able to reinforce this feeling over 22,000 times – that’s how often people have showered with us, been given new underwear and chatted over a hot coffee. We are particularly pleased when we can help in ways that go beyond healthcare: e.g. by placing people in housing projects, in appropriate medical care, with our network, with jobs.
How do you view medical care for homeless and homeless people?
Clearly inadequate. On the one hand, many people on the streets have no health insurance and therefore no access to the regular healthcare system. On the other hand, people without a permanent address only receive makeshift care – there is no sustainable long-term treatment. There are hardly any therapy options and too few fully equipped surgeries that can also treat people without health insurance.
Some of our shower guests do not dare to seek medical help – not even after a shower. The barriers are too high: appointments are often only available online, you have to be reachable by phone or have a public transport ticket to get there. The few medical mobiles that are on the road in Hamburg have to care for a large number of people. They are not fully equipped surgeries, but are usually only equipped for wound care or superficial treatments.
What kind of support would you like?
We want no one to have to sleep, eat, shower or receive medical care on the street. We want everyone to have unconditional access to housing and the healthcare system. Until this happens, we need active support directly at the showers or in educational work. The more people we can get involved, the more people we can reach and the more socio-political change we can bring about.