A street retreat in Holland's alternative capital
Fly to Schiphol Airport and take the connecting train to Amsterdam Central Station. DO NOT RENT A BICYCLE. You are here to beg.
Since their arrival in the early 1990s, organized begging experiences, or “Street Retreats” have been held in many cities around the world including neighboring Brussels, Paris, Cologne and Düsseldorf in Germany and lots in the United States. There has even been a special “Auschwitz retreat,” although quite how much money was raised there, I don't know.
And money is what it is all about. To start with, says the organizer, the “raising of the registration fee, by begging,” is the beginning of the participation in the street retreats. “It raises the participant's consciousness and that of others towards living on the streets, begging for sustenance and the work of the inner-city. It is an initiation into the life of a street dweller.”
Curiously, the retreats seem to take place more in the small minority of rich countries that do have some sort of social security and safety nets, rather than in the great majority of the world's cities where begging is never a lifestyle experiment but always a desperate last resort.
1. Do not shave, and do not wash your hair for at least one week prior to the retreat. “This will also start your street experience prior to leaving home,” the organizers promise, albeit not if you normally don't wash your hair.
2. Wear old clothes, “as many layers as you feel appropriate.” But don't bring a change of clothes, of course.
3. Do not bring any books, or bedding, or “conveniences,” etc. Do not bring any money, not even, perhaps, to embarrass passers-by by throwing it at them.
4. Finally, do bring an empty plastic bag. This will be useful for collecting food, “et cetera,” (jewelry, bank notes, cash?) in.
Upcoming street retreats and other “bearing witness” events are listed on what is called the “House of One People Bearing Witness” website.
Street retreats are not all fun however. Prior to starting, there is an orientation for all those wishing to participate. There are handouts called “Street Sheets” that list soup kitchens, shelters, and so on. Retreatants are divided up into their street cohorts and assigned a facilitator. Retreatants and facilitators discuss what to expect, but as the organizers say, at the end of the day, “the unexpected is the main teacher on the street.”