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Amsterdam alcoholics paid in beer for collecting litter...
By Anna Holligan
BBC News, Amsterdam
Alcoholics are being paid in beer to clean the streets of Amsterdam as part of a project partly funded by the Dutch government - the organisers think other countries should abandon "old-fashioned political correctness" and adopt the same approach.
Rene scours the streets, grasping at discarded wrappers.
His movements are fuelled by a tangible pride. It is an unfamiliar emotion for a man whose alcohol addiction has cost him so much.
"I have four children and three ex-wives, but alcohol has finished everything. I don't see them, they don't know where I am, or if I am alive. Now I have only him. He is there for 30 years, when times are good and bad, he is always there," he says, referring to his habit.
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25548061
BBC News, Amsterdam
Alcoholics are being paid in beer to clean the streets of Amsterdam as part of a project partly funded by the Dutch government - the organisers think other countries should abandon "old-fashioned political correctness" and adopt the same approach.
Rene scours the streets, grasping at discarded wrappers.
His movements are fuelled by a tangible pride. It is an unfamiliar emotion for a man whose alcohol addiction has cost him so much.
"I have four children and three ex-wives, but alcohol has finished everything. I don't see them, they don't know where I am, or if I am alive. Now I have only him. He is there for 30 years, when times are good and bad, he is always there," he says, referring to his habit.
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25548061
Everyone deserves some kind of purpose in life. Many people choose worse than picking up litter in exchange for beer, including quite a few members of the U.S. Congress and Supreme court.