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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/30/sweden-tourist-homeless-man-christmas-annis-lindkvist-jimmy-fraser-edinburgh
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Tourist flies homeless Edinburgh man to Sweden for Christmas | Tourist flies homeless Edinburgh man to Sweden for Christmas |
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A homeless man from Edinburgh has described the “incredible act of kindness” of a tourist who invited him to spend Christmas at her family home in Sweden. | A homeless man from Edinburgh has described the “incredible act of kindness” of a tourist who invited him to spend Christmas at her family home in Sweden. |
Jimmy Fraser was begging on George Street in the city centre when Annis Lindkvist and her sister Emma, from Sagmyra in central Sweden, asked him for directions. | Jimmy Fraser was begging on George Street in the city centre when Annis Lindkvist and her sister Emma, from Sagmyra in central Sweden, asked him for directions. |
They struck up a friendship and swapped numbers at the end of the trip, staying in touch by text before Lindkvist offered to pay for his flights so he could spend a week with her family over the festive period. | |
Fraser, who became homeless following his divorce 13 years ago, said: “It’s weird, I know. I was begging on George Street and these two women came up to me and the next thing I knew I was in Sweden. People promise you things all the time on the street but they never materialise. | |
“But I thought I’m going to go for it as its once in a lifetime. I couldn’t believe it anyway at first. People tell you ‘see you tomorrow, I’ll get you a drink’ and then nothing happens. But this did happen, actually, so it was really weird.” | |
The 54-year-old former security guard, who went to an ice hockey match, Christmas markets and midnight mass with his host’s family and friends, told the BBC News website: “It was a beautiful experience.” | The 54-year-old former security guard, who went to an ice hockey match, Christmas markets and midnight mass with his host’s family and friends, told the BBC News website: “It was a beautiful experience.” |
“Annis is such a wonderful, kind and generous person and I wish everyone was like her,” he said. “Being homeless is cold, lonely and depressing and you get a lot of abuse from people. This was an incredible act of kindness and I loved meeting Annis’s friends, family and colleagues. I wish I was there now.” | |
Lindkvist described her own doubts about issuing such an open invitation to a stranger. “We give money to charity every month but we have never done anything like this before,” she said. “There were friends and family who thought I was really crazy, but I just opened my home to him and said everything that is ours was his too.” | |
The 37-year-old, who works with dementia sufferers, said she had invited Fraser back to stay with the family again over the Easter break, and that he was “part of the family now”. | |
She said: “There is a big place in my heart for him. I had had my doubts about it, but I sat up late one night when he was here and spoke to him about it. I could have been a killer, just like he could have been, but I just had a feeling in my stomach that he was a really nice person.” | She said: “There is a big place in my heart for him. I had had my doubts about it, but I sat up late one night when he was here and spoke to him about it. I could have been a killer, just like he could have been, but I just had a feeling in my stomach that he was a really nice person.” |