My sister is a nurse and one day the police brought in this homeless guy to her hospital. He was in a really bad shape. Dirty. All dirty, smelly, horrible, you know. His hair was all matted and his clothes were like all stuck and full of gunk. He wasn’t right. The doctors had to examine him but no one wanted to touch him, that’s how bad of a state he was in.
Anyway, one of the police officers just couldn’t watch anymore and started to give him a hand when no one would even go close. He helped him undress and clean and get examined.
My sister said she was so touched by the kindness of the officer. She doesn’t think he did it out of duty, but out of respect from one human to another.
Zaina
Torrance, CA
Artist’s response
I chose this story because of the rise in homelessness around the UK and especially in Norwich. I think empathy and kindness are needed to solve the problem. It also appealed to me because my dad is an ex-policeman and always has an interesting story about his time in the force.
Artist
CALLUM RITCHIE
Callum Ritchie is an illustrator and designer. His work often deals with health as a theme and he is currently working on a design project to make the everyday environment more accessible for disabled people.