Where the streets are paved with gold...

Today the free newspaper in London, the Evening Standard, has a central article about some homeless men in Ealing, who spend their nights in bin stores in order to have some shelter from our freezing winter temperatures.

Here's the link:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23914819-london-2011-homeless-men-forced-to-sleep-in-bins.do

People "sleeping in bins" is undoubtedly shocking in 21st Century London (and a great eye-grabber for headline writers) but what is more interesting in this story is the focus on immigrant status.

The men profiled by this article are largely Indian. The charity profiled is aimed at helping Sikhs (though they are clear that they do not do so exclusively). The stories told to us are those of immigrants, with or without visas, who've come to London, England because they believed our streets were 'paved with gold', and they thought they could make enough money to survive here whilst also sending some back to their families.

For me, the interesting question is not personal to these men, as unfortunate as their current situation is. It's the fact that this narrative is an endlessly repeating one; that they might make their fortune here near Big Ben. I've spoken to several homeless men who thought that, only to be rudely awakened upon arrival. They often don't realise that yes, you can get ahead in a cosmopolitan, vibrant city like London, but not if you turn up with nothing. Sleeping with the rats is one pay-check away for these people, if they manage to get that in the first place.

The most important question of all is this: What is going on in the world that men leave their wives and children, their parents, their language, their climate... and travel, often in dangerous conditions, halfway around the world, because they believe life is so much better here?

We have a globalised world, and a globalised problem. The only truly ethical way to stop these men ending up homeless on our streets is to rectify the disparity between their hometown and ours. Our streets ARE paved with gold to them, compared with where they're coming from; the irony is that even once they've made it here, society still won't let them get hold of any.