The discovery of a different Vienna: that’s the objective of Jugendkirche Wien, the youth organization of the archdiocese of Vienna, which is proposing city tours to the young, accompanied by the former homeless, to visit the places where the homeless had once lived. The social project (called “jung, obdach? los!”) is aimed at secondary school pupils and teenagers, to enable them to visit Vienna from a different perspective and familiarise them with other less familiar sides of the Austrian capital. Over 120 youngsters have participated in these alternative tours over the last two weeks. Together with social workers, they meet the homeless who live in stations and in parks. They also visit the hostel run by Caritas in Vienna for the young homeless to whom it distributes warm meals every evening, other accommodation provided for the homeless in Vienna and the Crisis Centre of the Municipality of Vienna. The visits to the places where the homeless live are documented by photos and film footage that have been used by the Austrian artist Alfons Nebmaier for a sculpture that was presented during an exhibition on 2 April. A choir of the homeless, the “Stimmgewitter Augustin”, also performed during the event.
