Prague homeless hired as tour guides to show different part of city life
Prague’s homeless are being asked to guide tours of the city in a social entrepreneurship effort.
Prague will soon have teams of homeless people as tour guides if an award-winning student project has its way.
The idea was created by three Czech graduate students who entered a contest asking for ideas on how to best solve social problems through entrepreneurship.
“The tours are all based on the personal experience of the guides,” said Tereza Jureckova, one of the founders of the initiative, Pragulic, reported the Christian Science Monitor.
“Throughout the tours they’re sharing their personal stories, along with sharing sites.”
It is estimated that Prague has nearly 4000 homeless people said the Prague Post with that number increasing everyday amidst a recession.
The innovative tour company is already up and running with nine tours, all designed by the once homeless guides.
Tours include visits to guides' childhood neighborhoods and soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
“It’s still easy for them to return to homelessness, so we are trying to help prevent it,” said Jureckova, reported the Christian Science Monitor.
The tours are aimed at a younger, more alternative crowd that are sick of sanitized historical tours.
Despite the hype, homeless tours are nothing new.
Similar tours are offered in San Francisco, New Delhi, Melbourne and a number of other cities.