In order to see the homeless in Tehran and possibly have a conversation with them, we will not have a difficult task ahead; because their numbers are high and they are present in many parts of the city during this winter season and cold nights.

On the early hours of the twenty-seventh day of the month of Dey, we went to the southeast of Tehran (district 15), to Khavaran. There were five people who welcomed us, and eagerly answered our questions. They were 40, 35, and 65 years old, their hands were dry and cracked from the cold, they had lit a fire and tried to make it bigger with the few pieces of wood and scraps of paper they had.

The first person, who is 40 years old, initially and in response to this question that if there is work, are you willing to do it or not, says: “If there is work, I am also loyal. I have worked in various offices for 19 years and my specialty is administrative work. I have no problem with driving or even being a guard. Just tell me, sweeping or washing dishes; I don’t consider any work beneath me and I want to earn halal money for my children. They can give me the toughest responsibilities and tell me I have to do this or that work. I can’t sell goods. I can’t do odd jobs because I was in the military and many people know me; I feel ashamed. But well, for example, that gentleman (referring to someone) buys old shoes for two thousand tomans and sells them for five thousand tomans; it’s like peddling. But these things are not real work.”

He continues, “See, now the government says they are collecting addicts, but I say until there is work, nothing will be fixed. I came here out of desperation and not having a job. Investigate about me; I have 5 daughters and one son, my wife has also passed away. I have no one; no father, no mother, no siblings. I can’t even go to my wife’s father’s house out of shame, it’s enough that my children are a burden to them. And then my unmarried daughter and son have their own homes and eventually they will have to deal with the issue of being married or unmarried. What should I do? If there was work, would I come here and sleep at night like a madman? During the day, I am just wandering the streets…”

He doesn’t have an addiction and he emphasizes that he sleeps on the streets of this area every night. He says, “Sometimes people help; for example, they give us their old clothes or bring us food, but the kids know, I never accept it. A friend was talking about a wall of kindness yesterday; now we’re planning to go see what it’s like. I think the municipality should do more of these kinds of things. I am completely against just giving money to someone like this; if I want to be honest, most of them are addicts and even with a thousand tomans, they go and use drugs. But addicts are sick, they need treatment. Taking them to camps and such won’t solve the problem. Many of them know how to cheat the system and when they are tested, their addiction doesn’t show up; now they just get rid of it and use more drugs! So I’m not saying they should give them money, but give them a job,

The second person, who is 35 years old and addicted, describes his life as follows: “To be honest, a few weeks ago I got into trouble with my gaming friends and ended up in prison for six months. My wife also left because of this incident. I was homeless for less than a year, but because my daughter was with my mother, I went to a different city and everything was going well. But because I couldn’t find a job, my life fell apart again. I had come to Tehran with a van to make a living, but they took my van and impounded it.”

We ask him why he doesn’t quit: “Quitting doesn’t do anything; after quitting, we have a thousand and one problems. Our biggest problem is unemployment. In fact, because we are unemployed, whatever happens, we go back and use drugs again. If there is work, I am willing to go back to the city… We even take drugs that no one expects us to take. And if there is no money, the drug dealer will find drugs everywhere, sir!”

The third person, who is older than the others, is 65 years old and emphasizes that he always sleeps here. He says, “After 15 years of work, I became unemployed. I was stressed and lost. I didn’t know what to do and that’s when I started using drugs. I also drank alcohol; for the first time…”

We ask him, has the city council ever done anything for you? “The city council only speaks for itself! Of course, it gives, but it doesn’t reach us! A few weeks ago, one of the kids saw with his own eyes in Molavi that the city council officers had beaten and killed two people. It had gotten to the point that no one dared to turn on the lights and go to sleep until 5 in the morning; everyone was scared.”

The first person turns to his companions and says, “Now that you’ve become an addict, do you expect the city to come and dry you out?” And he responds, “Yes, we are addicts, but the main issue is unemployment. If someone is healthy and has no job, they will definitely find work; they won’t become an addict and fight with others. I have multiple skills now; I know how to plaster and use tools. But I have no capital and no work; I have to go to ten shrines and see a hundred people just to maybe get one job. So should I just give up and the situation will remain the same? There are drugs everywhere, sir! This situation needs to be fixed! I was on the front lines for three years and fought, but no one comes and asks me where I was, what I’ve been doing, and why I’m here now; they just say I’m an addict.”

The first person, in response to the question of why they don’t go to the soup kitchen and if the soup kitchen is not better than the street, says: “If I don’t go to the soup kitchen, it’s first because of the bad language and inappropriate curses they give us, and then because of the noise pollution there. Now you might say that because you used to work in an office, you have a gentle nature, but even there they use obscene curses (they repeat some examples of curses). When someone goes to the bathroom and takes two minutes, they say whatever comes to their mouth. They say ‘cut it off!’ Now they don’t think that person might be sick and constipated. Or for example, think about how they wake everyone up at 4:30 in the morning. Well, when I used to work in an office, I wouldn’t wake up at that time to go to work, but in this cold weather, why do they wake us up

The second person adds: “We once saw someone being kicked hard to wake up. Then we went and saw that they were actually dead in their sleep and couldn’t be woken up. Do you approve of this behavior!?”

The third person continues: “Of course, the cafeteria in Azadi Square is much better. Not only is the management good, but their behavior when waking people up from sleep is also better. Twenty people, or thirty people, wake up and serve breakfast; not like others who wake everyone up and create chaos.”

In the end, we ask them about the graves and whether they have heard this news or not. The first person says, “Yes, we heard it here. It has been said since ancient times that a hungry stomach has no religion or faith and does not recognize parents. Well, that’s true; for someone who has no place to sleep in this cold and is hungry, what difference does it make where they sleep? Now that you are comfortably sitting here, if you are forced or even if you come to the street by your own will and sleep there, even if you are a very clean and organized person, you will grab any dirty blanket you find and put it over your head so you don’t die. Well, that’s the same with these graves… They say we are ruining the face of the city, well, they have gone to the cemetery so that the face of the city is not ruined! They should give us a space like a playground or a football field and say

We take a picture and say goodbye. We are going home and their home is also on the same street.