International Network of Street Papers Dominik Bloh and the story of GoBanyo, the shower bus for Hamburg’s homeless Taking a shower every morning or evening is a regular occurrence that most of us take for granted. While experiencing homelessness, Dominik Bloh became all too aware of the fact that access to bathing facilities is challenging for those on the streets and that being unable to wash regularly can have negative mental health impacts. That’s when he fi rst thought of the idea of a shower bus. In 2019, it became a reality. By Andrea Rothfuß Dominik Bloh was kicked out of the house as a teenager and had to survive on the streets of Hamburg – all while he was trying to graduate from high school. He was homeless for over a decade, and he experienced for himself how it feels when you are unable to wash regularly. “I know that feeling. The feeling of people distancing themselves from you in disgust,” he says. “The outside affects the inside. The body and the soul go hand in hand. I was so dirty that I started thinking of myself as just dirt.” Today Bloh devotes himself to ensuring that Hamburg’s homeless have access to shower facilities. “Those times when I was on the streets, one of the worst problems I had was the fact that I couldn’t wash myself,” he recalls. “I learned on the streets that washing is [part of your] dignity.” Bloh organized a huge fundraiser with his friends to fi nance a shower bus, and the ensuing conversion of a Mercedes Citaro 530 started at the end of May 2019 and took six months. There are three fully equipped bathrooms in the converted bus. In every bathroom there is one shower, one toilet, one sink and one waterproof cabinet with a power socket available. One of the bathrooms is also suitable for wheelchair users thanks to suffi cient space and appropriate provisions such as a ramp and a height-adjustable sink. On the outside of the bus there is an eight by twoand-a-half-meter awning covering the front and sides. One can warm up and fi nd some peace here. In the fi rst year of operation, the bus was used 250 times. It operates seven days a week and is driven to four different points in the city, including crowded places such as Millerntor and Steintorplatz on Saturdays. On Saturdays, showering is only available for women. Bloh, who was born in 1988, came up with the idea when he himself was on the streets. He was certain of the fact that if things were to go well for him, he would never forget his experiences. So the idea of giving something back stuck with him. He wrote a successful book about his time on the streets and founded GoBanyo, a nonprofi t company. “We are fi nancing ourselves through donations. The bus conversion was made possible through a crowdfunding, through which we collected 168,000 Euros,” he says. “We are improving ourselves continuously and are trying to create a social business out of a social project. We will fi nd a product soon, [and with that] we will be able to fi nance ourselves independently. We can sell shower gels and build our shower busses with the income. That’s the idea.” Until they manage to make this plan a reality, GoBanyo is working in partnership with The Right to Shower, a social enterprise that sells soaps for good causes. Bloh’s shower bus idea is now attracting widespread interest and possible imitators. There have enquiries from all over Germany and the EU, and contact has been made from as far afi eld as South Africa and Brazil. “We like to support others with our knowledge. As long as the problem remains, we need to make access to sanitation facilities affordable and easier,” Bloh explains. “The primary goal and the mission in years to come must be to introduce a Housing First policy in Germany.” He says this because one thing is very Page 13 apparent: The shower bus is trying to compensate for the fact that there are very few public shower facilities for the homeless. When it comes to homelessness, Bloh thinks that everything must change. People need homes, not a few more shower facilities. “It is time to deal with that,” he says. “We can end homelessness through Housing First in Germany. Every person should be able to have a roof above their head. Showering and having a place to live are basic human rights.” And what is his advice if one meets a homeless person on the street, how should you behave? Here, Bloh emphasises the power of reaching out to others: “I wish that all of us can be more courageous about approaching each other and talking to each other,” he says. “This is the fi rst step. You may ask yourself many questions [in life] but you’ll only receive answers if you talk to others. “You can always do good even by just giving people a laugh,” he continues. “For some, this can be the best moment of their day; it might give them hope to carry on and not to give up.” Bloh’s vision – when he was living on the streets and had nothing at all – was to write a book and make the shower bus a reality. Both of these visions have come to pass. As a result, he believes that anything is possible and anything can be achieved. Bloh travels a lot, goes to schools, does educational work and contacts political decision-makers in order to spread the word. He does this in order to share his message with as many people as possible and to attract interest in the subject of ending homelessness. “I know that it [my outreach work] gives people food for thought,” he says. “They often later change their actions because they gained a new insight – because their eyes were opened, so to speak – and they now look at streets from a different perspective.” Translated from German by Metin Ahmet Ustabaşı Courtesy of Trott-war / INSP.ngo
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