The mother of vagabonds in the south of Bohemia houses homeless people who would not have a chance elsewhere

Social facilities in the Czech Republic, i.e. mainly asylums, are set up in such a way that they are supposed to enable a new start in life. Clients are not allowed to drink alcohol there, must actively look for work and must obey the rules. A certain state of health is also expected.

“The life of a homeless person is hard, harder than anyone can imagine. Such a person is rejected by his family, first of all, then he is usually addicted to something – alcohol, drugs, pills -, he is almost always sick,” describes Zavadilová.

He points out that almost always these people also have psychological problems. “Of course, they don’t get treatment, so they usually die at retirement age. They are usually not entitled to a pension. And if it is, it is usually even smaller than the amount of material hardship,” explains Zavadilová.

Marcel sleeps in the cold by the heat exchanger, he doesn’t want to go to work

Homemade

Her “vagabunds”, as she calls them, come straight from the street and use one of the last options for a roof over their heads. Some took drugs, beg. “I think everyone deserves some consideration. For example, I get burned when someone gives a beggar a dime and at the same time asks if he will drink it,” she mentioned.

She’s always been this way with help. He talks about the dignity of people, the freedom of decision. She started providing accommodation about twenty years ago, when she ran a guesthouse and restaurant in Dobrá Voda near České Budějovice.

“At first it was workers, and then people who would otherwise end up on the street just started coming in,” he recalls. In more than twenty years, she has already helped dozens of people in this way. “Now he also lives in my house. At the moment, I have five of them here, I also try to take care of their shopping and help with the authorities, but sometimes it’s difficult,” she stated.

There is, for example, Honza in the house in Dobrá Voda. “I broke my leg eight years ago and I had nowhere to go from the hospital. Anna provided me with housing for the second time,” he told Novinkám.

The mother of vagabonds and sad stories

Zavadilová also founded the Facebook page Without money and without a home. Her narration is then full of sad stories with bad endings. “Today is Rostislav’s holiday. The only Rostislav I know more intimately was Rosťa Dittrich, with whom I spent the last six months of his miserable life. A poet, artistically gifted, not stupid at all, but a really heavy alcoholic, hepatitis C, his legs were run over by a train. He couldn’t be saved, he actually didn’t even want to,” she recalls, for example, the wheelchair user who lived with her. Similarly, she has had to say goodbye to more than thirty people over the years.

He sleeps at a friend’s kitchen on the floor. But now he’s going to lose this provisional as well

Homemade

The death of Jan Juroška, for example, hurt her in a similar way. “I took him at the instigation of a social worker from LDN, he had been homeless for several years after oncology treatment. They don’t release anyone from the hospital to the street, there was no place for him – with a hole in his throat, no hostel or official asylum would take him in,” the woman describes how the man lived in a cottage behind the house and was happy as a flea.

“Unfortunately, metastases appeared and it was the end of hopes. He didn’t want to go back to the hospital, so he stayed in the cottage, I stuck morphine plasters on him, it wouldn’t have been possible without them,” she said, adding that the man died at the premature age of 56.

When you get to know Anna Zavadilová a little, you will find out that she is a woman with a big heart and the world is not indifferent to her. She also rescues unwanted dogs. She will invite you to the event for the fiftieth anniversary, when before the underground concert, the police dispersed the mobsters in the Na America pub, because she was also there then. And petition sheets with signatures to help victims affected by war conflicts will start arriving in your mail.

Although she is no longer the youngest, she likes concerts. Recently, she was surprised by an announcement from a well-known band on stage: “Now we’re going to play Mother of the Vagabonds,” said the band’s frontman. “I was a little surprised. But it will probably be like that,” she admitted at the end.