A tour organised by the New Acropolis Paris association to meet homeless men and women.

Smiles and questions were shared during the itineraries and encounters.

We set out to explore the meaning of human dignity for all, with this quote from Romain Gary: ‘The road to freedom and human dignity passes through many abysses and therefore cannot lead to the summits all at once’.

After meeting the gaze of many homeless people and talking, laughing and drinking coffee or tea with them, we went home reflecting that human dignity was not immediately obvious, that it was part of deep qualities, that it could be known after many trials, a bit like Romain Gary’s quote says, and that it had a form of impermanence, and that, at any moment, we can invoke it to remain dignified, like Stéphane, who has been in the street for 21 years and has gone through many difficulties since his first nights in the street, who has not always lived with dignity but who, before being treated for scabies, threw his belongings in the bin (mattress, spare clothes, duvet) because ‘it’s not nice to leave that in the street and you have to throw it all away so that no one can take it’.