While not the main focus of the demands around Women’s Day, HE homelessness it also suffers from a significant gender gap This makes women invisible. According to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 76.7% of the homeless are men and 23.3% are women. In this context, homeless women couple defenseless: one because of their homeless status and the other because of their gender, which exposes them to sexual assaults, which 24% suffer.
Senovia knows this fact well. He has experienced this himself. At the age of 23, he came to Spain from his native Colombia to work and earn enough money to pay off a family debt: “I decided to find my life”. And life has not made it easy.
When he arrived in Spain, victim of the white slavery networka world he can leave, but without resources or support, leading him to prostitution and addiction to have a roof: his priority. “You get some money for basic needs like eating out and spending a few nights in a hostel. I’ve come to sleep on their familiar sofa, where you can spend a day or two,” he said. But on this descent into the abyss, something worse awaited him: living on the street. “this is hell. You think you’re going crazy. You only see bad things in life. Living on the street or for rent degrades you physically and mentally,” he recalls.
female flexibility
Senovia is also an example of how it is possible to break out of this spiral of social exclusion with help and personal commitment. After his pilgrimage to hostels in Navarra, the Gipuzkoa County Council put him in touch with Errondo Gure Etxea of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Sebastián. Comprehensive care center for people experiencing severe social exclusion has a multidisciplinary team of social and health professionals. It’s been 25 years since Senovia came to Spain looking for an opportunity. He admits today at the age of 48. began to dream and look to the future with hope: “I wish I had a clothing store. I want my independence and to be useful to society.”
And it sends a message to women who might be in the same situation: “There are many women who are silent about their family, or what to say. And you should speak: If I’m alive, it’s because I allow myself to be helped and I’m in therapy.. Now I feel protected.”