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I sat by the table, near the window, reading. A woman and her man sat 
on a filthy sofa, eating smoked sardines off an old newspaper. 
This room stank of unwashed bodies and lack of hygiene. Dry washing 
that should have been ironed weeks ago occupied a chair. 
The pair rolled their own cigarettes and had nicotine stained fingers. 
 It was raining heavily. I could not go out and felt a violent despair, like 
a trapped animal that attacks its rescuers.“Use fork and knife” I snapped. 
They both giggled. Rain had stopped. I walked out, light shone out of 
miserable curtains…and I knew. I must leave now. Get out! It was too easy 
sink into apathy, and ignorance. Yet, I loved them, they were my flesh 
and blood, good people who had never been encouraged to seek anything 
better. But I must leave…and I left never to return.  
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