Wash your face, brush your teeth and take a warm shower. It would seem that all this is in the order of things, but not for the homeless. Dominic Bol, who lived on the streets himself at one time, knows this only too well.
Dominik is one of the co-sponsors of the GoBanyo initiative, a bus with a shower cabin for people without a roof over their heads. Since 2019, this bus has been cruising the streets of Hamburg.
Dominic Bol, GoBanyo founder: "The idea was born on the street when I was homeless myself. I realized that the most difficult problem to solve was how to wash. I wrote this sentence:" I have been dirty for so long that I thought I dirt itself." I didn't want anyone to feel that way."
On Volunteer Day, German President Frank Walter Steinmeier awarded Dominik Bol and 15 other citizens with the Order of Merit.
A bus with a shower runs around Hamburg five times a week. The service is in demand: it has already been used more than 19 thousand times.
The homeless are not only provided with toiletries, but also clean underwear. Warm clothes are also available, which is important on cold days. Pain himself says that volunteering has become a very important thing in his life.