intermediate-homes169 Photos labelled in English, French, German, Irish, Spanish and Czech
exercises: 1) look through the photo-album, write down the words that you need and add other words related to "homes" that you would like to learn (translate those with your dictionary), look for specialized words in the texts
 This is Planet Earth which all humans call home. Humans have divided the planet into countries. And so most of us have an address in a country which we call home.   countries of the world All our countries are built upon the heritage of History. Date: July 25, 2009 01:18AM New World passports are all colonialist lies and our identities have arisen from genocide. The fact that the bloodshed is not in our generation doesn't make it any more just in outcome, and we are still living with the inequities and marginalization/decimation of First Peoples. This country was Iere, now it is Trinidad. The pacifist Arawaks lived here, until the warlike Caribs invaded and started to wipe them out. Then the Spanish arrived and practically finished up both lots of them. The Spanish are portrayed as barbaric and racist for this, the Caribs are just called "aggressive" though they were doing (in essence) the same thing, they just got beaten at their own game. So be it, I accept it for what it is. Supporting native rights is one thing until the natives say "GTFO". Gunpowder and cannons were once the equivalent of white phosphorous. Canada only exists because GTFO wasn't accepted as a legitimate option, they've used the same techniques of segregation, suppression and human rights violation on their 'First Peoples' that all colonizing powers have. You're benefiting every day from an illegitimate infrastructure, as am I. We're all squatters and guilty by complicity once we set up houses, streets and stay and 5 or 6 generations down the road it's 'history'. That's OK with me, I have no where else to go. by Sarina Nicole Bland website Coming to terms with our personal History and the History of the place we call home helps us settle but sometimes forced eviction of population happens before our very eyes, and it makes us ask the question about how safe we are in our homes and our homeland. Once we have reassured ourselves of our own safety, we need to think about the fate of people less unfortunate than ourselves and although we are powerless to their fate, we need to be witnesses. The following documentary is the sad story of the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands who were evicted from their home and resettled far away. Stealing a Nation, a Special Report by John Pilger - 55:57 - Sep 29, 2006 Granada Television - http://www.chagossupport.org.uk To watch this documentary online in full screen High Quality, go to http://www.veoh.com . STEALING A NATION (John Pilger, 2004) is an extraordinary film about the plight of people of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean - secretly and brutally expelled from their homeland by British governments in the late 1960s and early 1970s, to make way for an American military base. The base, on the main island of Diego Garcia, was a launch pad for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Stealing a Nation has won both the Royal Television Society's top award as Britain's best documentary in 2004-5, and a 'Chris Award' at the Columbus International Film and Video Festival. A brochure of the film is available at http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/guides/stealguide.pdf . On April 8, 2008, the Chagos Islanders have launched a national Campaign for Resettlement of their islands - go to www.letthemreturn.com . For more information and updates on the plight of the Chagossians, visit the website of the UK Chagos Support Association at www.chagossupport.org.uk 
We humans all live on the same planet: Planet Earth. We live in different countries, towns, streets and have different addresses. All of us need a home. If planers get it wrong, then our home becomes a nightmare. Pollution and destruction of culture are not factors for a beautiful home. green areas (gardens and parks) make a city less polluted Another factor is the forceful confinement of minorities into designated areas.  entrance to the Venice Ghetto What is a ghetto? The word "ghetto" actually comes from the word "getto" or "gheto", which means slag in Venetian, and was used in this sense in a reference to a foundry where slag was stored located on the same island as the area of Jewish confinement. An alternative etymology is from Italian borghetto, diminutive of borgo ‘borough’. The corresponding German term was Judengasse (lit. Jew's Lane) known as the Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Ghetto, the world's oldest, remains intact and is still marked by dark porticos, peeling paint, laundry hung out to dry, and windows placed so close above one another that you're back aches just thinking about the low ceiling. Until the 14th century, Jews were allowed to come to Venice for money-lending activities, but were not allowed permanent residents permits. The first Jews were allowed to settle in Venice only in 1385, when the city was involved in a war against neighbouring Chioggia and needed loans from the Jewish money-lenders. But racism persisted, and in 1516 Venice's ruling council confined all the Jews in a smallen getti, or foundries. The gates were locked at night, and restrictions were placed on Jewish economic activities. Jews were only allowed to operate pawn shops and lend money, trade in textiles, and practice medicine. They were allowed to area not far from today's train station, where there had be leave the Ghetto during the day, but were marked as Jews: Men wore a yellow circle stitched on the left shoulder of their cloaks or jackets, while women wore a yellow scarf. Later on, the men's circle became a yellow beret and still later a red one. source source camps, designated areas and slums are modern forms of ghettos. It is important for a happy home that a person does not have to live in a ghetto. Sadly, such places still exist all over the world - either because of social or racial conflicts or poverty Last but not least, a home needs to be accessible and comfortable.  Accessibility: easier access (ramp, lift) wide doors convenient toilet unrestricted parking nearby ground, first level or garden level location (or lift) source: www.accessiblefeatures.org.uk Housing conditions How does my home affect my health? * Cold, damp and mouldy conditions in the home can exacerbate or even precipitate various symptoms and illness such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease, asthma, arthritis, etc * The prevalence of illness appears to increase with the level of dampness * One of the underlying reasons for excess winter deaths is cold, damp homes which exacerbate fuel poverty. Every year, nationally, the mortality rate amongst older people rises during the winter months with extra deaths, from illnesses caused or exacerbated by exposure to the cold * The cold and damp in turn aggravates circulatory diseases, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks or respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis or pneumonia * Poorly ventilated homes increase the prevalence of house dust mites; mould or fungal growths result from dampness and/or high humidity. These airborne pollutants can trigger allergic symptoms such as rhinitis, conjunctivitis, eczema, cough and wheeze * Repeated exposure can lead to asthma, and it appears that the severity of the asthma intensifies with increasing humidity, house dust mite and mould levels Both house dust mites and moulds flourish in damp or humid conditions, and their growth is also influenced by temperature * Anxiety and depression increase with the number of housing problems. Source: Warrington Council bad housing can be renovated. | Architect Alain de Botton defines a beautiful home like this: "To call a work of architecture or design beautiful is to recognise it as a rendition of values critical to our flourishing, a trans-substantation of our individual ideals in a material medium." (The Architecture of Happiness - 2006) A happy home should be in a place where you are free to move, with little or no pollution, accessible, safe, good housing condition and affordable. Owning a home is a dream that many people have, few people own their homes. Some people pay off a mortgage because they were able to get a loan from a bank or building society, others pay rent. Subsidising homes for people with low income is essential and Social housing offers low rent. The Ethelburga Flats This exhibition shows how people put the soul into a dwelling. A house is a shell, the people who live in it make it a home. Structurally, they are identical, but each of these high rise-appartments has been adapted to make it home. Photographer Mark Cowper catches them in the moment. "I was curious to see what other people had done with their flats," says photographer Mark Cowper, who has lived on an off in Ethelburga Tower in Battersea, South London, for twenty years. "It's fascinating how much self-expression can go into one small space. And everyone likes to peek into someone's else's world, don't they? Cowper doorstepped his neighbours over the course of a year, asking if he could photograph their living rooms there and then, just as he found them. "I was surprised at how many people let me in," he says. Some were in the middle of ironing, others were on the phone, many were watching TV. "People wanted to tidy up first, but I wanted to capture that moment, how they were using the room, how the furniture was arranged. His impromptu visits took place from summer 2007 to 2008. "I practised in my own flat first, getting the camera in the right position so that I could be quick. The appartments are identical in construction: two bed, split-level maisonettes, each 5m x 3m of living space with a glass-panelled door leading on to a small balcony. The pictures are intriguing because "the same neutral space has been interpreted in so many ways," says Alex Corney, curator at the Geffrye Museum, East London, which is staging an exhibition of Cowper's photographs. One resident has turned their flat into a mock Victorian parlour, with floral carpets and heavy furniture. Another has created an all-white, Japanese-style den. Some have even knocked down the wall between the living room and the kitchen. A common factor is the abundance of gadgetry: remote controls, DVD players and the ubiquitous flatscreen. written by Hannah Booth, The Guardian Weekend. Ethelburga Towers. At Home in A High-Rise, April-August 2009, Geffrye Museum, London E2 website Housekeeping Housework timetable 0800: Drag myself out of bed, tell daddy goodbye, wash-up, breakfast 0830: Do laundry. And no cheating here, I handwash the clothes. 0930: Hang the clothes to dry 0950: Housework – sweeping, cleaning, mopping the house 1100: My blessing in disguise, I’m learning to cook! 1230: Clean up the kitchen 1300: Lunch 1400: Chill time, reading, sorting out stuff and (still) unpacking my 5 years worth of things, re-decoration ideas for my room 1700: Folding clothes 1830: Preparing for dinner 2000: Dinner + TV + desserts 2190: Internet surfing + misc + reading 1200: ZZzzz written by Grown Up Princess. website Homelessness for some people, a comfortable home with private space in a safe place is still a dream... It seems to me that too often, the plight of homeless people does not make the mainstream media. One might encounter a detailed article in a magazine for a charity or in this case, The Watchtower published by Jehovah's Witnesses. This is a well-written text because it combines personal stories with statistics and analyses. 100 million people or 1 out of sixty people world-wide are affected by it, the problem is too big to ignore. HOMELESSNESS What Is Behind It? BY AWAKE! WRITER IN POLAND (published by The Watchtower.org, magazine for Jehovah's Witness) December 2005 “WORLDWIDE there are over 100 million homeless people,” reports the United Nations. If that figure is accurate, then 1 human in every 60 or so is without adequate shelter! Still, the real scope of the problem is hard to assess. Why? Definitions of homelessness vary from one part of the world to another. The approaches and aims of those who study the problem influence the way they define it. Their definition, in turn, affects the statistics they publish. So it is difficult, if not impossible, to get an accurate overview of the problem. The book 'Strategies to Combat Homelessness', published by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, defines homelessness as the condition of “not having an acceptable level of housing provision. It would include all states below what may be regarded as adequate” for the society in which the homeless live. Some may dwell on the streets or occupy derelict or abandoned buildings, while others might find shelter in hostels. Still others find temporary accommodation with friends. In any case, says the same study: “To classify someone as homeless indicates a state in which ‘something must be done’ for the victim of such circumstances.” It is estimated that in Poland, a country with a population of some 40 million, there are as many as 300,000 homeless people. No one really knows how many, since they are not registered in any fixed location and they keep moving from place to place. Some believe the real figure to be close to half a million! Since homelessness is widespread, someone you know may be affected by it. The plight of the homeless raises a number of questions. How did these people come to be without adequate housing? How do they get by? Who helps them? And what does the future hold for the homeless? In and Out of Homelessness Sabrina* (name changed) is a single mother from a poor neighborhood in Harlem, a section of New York City. She dropped out of high school after tenth grade. Sabrina lives with her three young children in a city-run shelter for the long-term homeless. She shares a one-bedroom apartment with her three boys—aged ten months, three years, and ten years. The city makes such provisions for people who have no other safe place to live. Sabrina moved out of her mother’s apartment ten years ago. Since then she has lived with her boyfriend, stayed with friends and relatives, and resorted to city shelters when things got bad. “I’ve worked off and on, mostly braiding people’s hair for money,” says Sabrina, “but for the most part, I’ve been on public assistance.” Paradoxically, Sabrina’s problems, as recounted in Parents magazine , began when she found a good job as a housekeeper in a hotel. While she was working there, she earned too much to qualify for public assistance but not enough to cover her expenses, including housing, food, clothing, transportation, and child care. Thus, she found it hard to pay her rent, and her landlord tried to evict her. In the end, Sabrina quit her job and resorted to an emergency short-term shelter until there was room where she is now. “It’s all been hard on my kids,” says Sabrina. “My oldest son has already been in three different schools. He should be in fifth grade, but he was held back a year . . . We’ve had to move around so much.” Sabrina is on a waiting list for subsidized housing. To any who have absolutely no place to go, Sabrina might seem fortunate. Life in a shelter, however, is not a welcome safety net for all the homeless. According to the Polish Community Help Committee, some “are afraid of the discipline and rules of shelters” and reject the help provided. For example, those who live in hostels for the homeless are expected to work and to abstain from alcohol and drugs. Not everyone is prepared to comply. Hence, depending on the time of year, homeless people may be found sleeping in train stations, stairwells, and cellars, as well as on park benches, under bridges, and in industrial areas. Similar scenes are repeated the world over. One book on the subject lists many factors that contribute to homelessness in Poland. They include job loss, debt, and family problems. There is a shortage of housing for the elderly, disabled, and people infected with HIV. Many homeless people have mental and physical problems or problems of addiction, particularly to alcohol. The majority of homeless women have left—or have run away from—their husbands, have been thrown out of their home, or have a history of prostitution. It seems that behind every case, there is a sad story. Victims of Circumstance Stanisława Golinowska, a specialist in socio-economics, says: “Here [in Poland] there is no genuine case of homelessness by choice. . . . Rather, it is a result of various failures in life, which have led to breakdown and loss of the will to live.” Homelessness seems to befall people who, for various reasons, feel unable to deal with their problems. Some, for example, have been released from prison, only to find that vandals have wrecked their home. Others have been evicted. Many have lost the roof over their head in the wake of natural disasters. One study found that nearly half the homeless surveyed in Poland used to be part of a family and lived with their spouse, though often the family had problems. Most were thrown out of their home or felt compelled to leave because of extreme hardship. Only 14 percent freely made a decision to leave. The Results of Abject Poverty Hundreds of thousands live on the city streets of India. Past estimates have found some 250,000 pavement dwellers in Mumbai alone. Their only shelter may be a tarpaulin tied between poles and neighboring structures. Why do they live here rather than in relatively affordable housing near the city’s outskirts? Because they work—as petty traders, hawkers, rickshaw pullers, or scrap collectors—close to the city center. “They have no choice,” says Strategies to Combat Homelessness. “They are simply forced by poverty to spend nothing on rent that could be used for food.” Some 2,300 men, women, and children live in Park Station, Johannesburg, South Africa. They sleep on open railroad platforms, using scraps of blankets as beds, or in cardboard shacks. Most have no work and have lost hope of finding any. Thousands live in a similar fashion throughout the city. They lack water, toilet facilities, and electricity. In such conditions disease spreads fast. The reason for the homelessness of these two groups of people and many others like them is simple - abject poverty. After spending time in a shelter, some are able to become self-sufficient again and find their own accommodations. For others, the situation is more difficult to resolve. In part because of mental or physical illness, substance abuse, lack of incentives to work, poor work habits, lack of adequate education, or a combination of factors, they become chronically homeless. In the United States, some 30 percent of homeless people are in and out of what one nonprofit organization calls the “homeless system”—a system that includes shelters, hospitals and, sadly, prisons. Those who are chronically dependent on the system are said to utilize as much as 90 percent of the national resources dedicated to the problem. Help for the Homeless? Some shelters offer services aimed at helping people to break out of the homeless life. Individuals may be helped to obtain public assistance, financial help from other sources, legal aid, support in reestablishing links with family, or the chance to learn basic skills. Centers for young people in London offer advice on diet, cooking, healthier lifestyles, and work placement. Counseling aims to increase self-respect and motivation and to help people achieve greater independence so that they can find and keep a home of their own. Such provisions are certainly praiseworthy. Not always, however, do shelters offer the homeless the help they feel they need most. Jacek, a homeless person in Warsaw, explains that life in the shelters does not equip residents to deal with the outside world. He feels that the residents, by associating and conversing almost exclusively with one another, tend to develop “a warped pattern of thinking.” He says, “The shelter that isolates us from the outside world becomes like a children’s home for adults.” In his view, many residents have “malfunctioning minds.” According to one Polish study, loneliness is the most painful emotion the homeless experience. As a result of financial problems and low social standing, the homeless tend to consider themselves worthless. Some turn to alcohol. Jacek says, “Seeing no hope for change, many of us slowly lose the conviction that there is anything we can do to improve our plight.” They are ashamed of the way they look, of their poverty and helplessness, and of the simple fact that they are homeless. “Whether we talk about the pavement dwellers in Bombay [Mumbai] and Calcutta or the rough sleepers in the streets of London, or the Street Children in Brazil,” says Francis Jegede, who specializes in population issues, “the condition of homelessness is too grave and pathetic to imagine, let alone experience.” Then he adds: “Whatever may be the cause or causes of this phenomenon, the question one keeps asking is why is it that the world, with all its wealth and wisdom and its technological know-how, seems incapable of dealing with the problem of homelessness?” It is evident that all the homeless need help—not just physical help but also the kind that can soothe their hearts and lift their spirits. Such help can empower people to face and overcome many of the problems that contribute to homelessness. But where can the homeless find that kind of help? And what hope is there that the tragedy of homelessness will ever be eradicated? (30) Millions of people worldwide have also been displaced from their homes by some form of political instability or armed conflict. (zebras54 edit: see below) The book Strategies to Combat Homelessness, published by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, identifies a number of shortcomings of the present social, political, and economic system when it comes to providing homes for all. Included are the following: * “The main issue with respect to homelessness remains the inability of governments to devote significant resources towards the full realisation of the right to adequate housing.” * “The existence of inappropriate regulations and inefficient planning systems can . . . cause havoc with housing supply for the poor majority.” * “Homelessness is a sign of the inequitable distribution of housing costs and benefits in the community.” * “The crisis of homelessness is the culmination of policies that have either ignored or misdiagnosed the adverse impact of economic shifts, the lack of affordable housing, increased drug abuse, and other physical health and mental health problems of those who are the most vulnerable in . . . society.” * “There is a great need to modify the training of professionals who deal with vulnerable people. Homeless people, particularly street children, should be regarded as unutilised but potential assets rather than burdens to society.” original text  Obdalosigkeit was sind die Ursachen 
SANS ABRI Pourquoi ? Fatima and Nasser Abd Rabo live in a village near Jerusalem that has a permanent road block. Residents cannot leave or return without showing their permits. Theirs is a form of house-arrest common in the West-Bank and in Gaza. When there is a curfew, they simply cannot leave for any reason; their daughter, Arij, aged five, cannot go to school; they are not even go out onto their balcony. The military will cut the electricity from time to time and they are left with candles. Archbishop Desmond Tutu came here and was struck by the similarities to the worst strictures of South Africa's infamous pass laws. "We hear out village has been designated "Zone A and B", said Fatima, as she sat in her kitchen with Arij on her lap. "That means, this is Jewish land, and we cannot use it any more, and they want us out. They have marked red lines to forbid us using it. They want foreigners to have it; they told us that's what they are planning to do.' 'How long have you lived here? "All our lives. We are not refugees. My parents and grandparents lived here." John Pilger - journalist who won "Journalist of the Year". - "Freedom next Time" 2006. (Film: Palestine is still the issue), according to the UN Refugee groups, 30 million people have been displaced from their homes, imagine yourself in their place... "Give refugees a hand! Please take a moment to upload a video of you and your friends making the "protecting hands" symbol, as other's have done here. For each original video uploaded, our sponsors will donate $1 to help the UNHCR protect refugees worldwide. It's a simple way to get involved!" visit: http://uk.youtube.com/unhcr" let's show solidarity. let's not forget them. zebras54 says: give refugees a hand, raise awareness and do not forget. In June 2008, I made this modest youtube video to do my bit raising awareness on World Refugee Day. EVERYONE NEEDS A HOME, a place to live and a shelter to feel comfortable in. |
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