Under a Mountain of Things: Let’s Clear Space for the Childhood of Two Siblings

Imagine your world ending at the front door. Behind it lies not a safe haven, but an impenetrable labyrinth of boxes, old paper, and items that lost their purpose long ago.

In the middle of this maze in a Prague apartment, two young siblings are growing up.

They have no place to play on the floor, no desk to draw their first pictures, and their daily movement has been reduced to narrow alleyways between piles of clutter that their parents cannot remove on their own.

Compulsive hoarding is not laziness; it is a silent illness of the soul that imprisons a person within their own home.

These children’s parents love their offspring, but for years, the piles around them grew much faster than their strength to fight this invisible enemy. The situation has now reached a point where there is no turning back without a helping hand from the outside.

How will the fundraiser help?

We are a group of volunteers from the non-profit organization Břečťan, and our mission is clear: to give these little ones their living space back. We want to clear out years of accumulation, thoroughly disinfect everything, and create an environment where they can breathe freely again—both literally and figuratively. We work for free, in our spare time, and with maximum commitment, but the costs of such an extensive intervention are beyond our financial means. Your contributions will primarily help us pay for the rental of large-scale containers and waste disposal fees at the landfill, which is our largest expense. We will also use the funds to purchase professional protective equipment, respirators, and strong disinfectants to rid the space of mold and bacteria. If we manage to raise more, we will clean other similar households. Unfortunately, the demand for our help is high.