Green Point and Oranje-Kloof CIDs - Helping the Homeless

 Green Point and Oranje-Kloof CID - Helping the Homeless

As part of the Green Point (GP) and Oranje-Kloof (OK) CIDs social upliftment initiative, 33 year old Cedric Peterson was assisted with ablution facilities, a meal, clean clothes and a bus pass back to his family in Johannesburg at 9:30 on Thursday 23 April 2009.

Seeking a new start in the City of Cape Town, Peterson left his Johannesburg Street life in January this year. “I’ve been living on the street for 18 years now,” says Peterson, “I came to Cape Town because I needed a change.”

Says OK/GP CID CEO, Marc Truss: “The CIDs are doing whatever we can to help ‘clean up’ the streets in our respective areas. Peterson is one of the many homeless people who have migrated to Cape Town in search of a better life. Many of the vagrants we find have come from rural areas, and even more from the harsh and relentless streets of Johannesburg. With the help of social workers the CIDs aim to assist these people by offering them a place to freshen up, giving them a good meal and a clean set of clothes before we send them back to their families and homes.”

A combination of poverty, drugs and gang life serves as a constant instigator in luring young South Africans out of their family homes and onto the street. This fast paced, seemingly exhilarating environment with no rules and day to day living, initially presents a preferred way to opt out of their underprivileged home environments, and often into irremediable danger and trouble.

Collectively the CIDs’ manage a comprehensive social upliftment programme, which comprises of a number of steps to assist street dwellers to return home. These steps include forming a relationship with the individual, identifying where they originally came from and what the circumstances are that led them to be in the situation they are.

The social worker in charge of particular case will then contact the individual’s family to ascertain if he/she is able to return home to environment that is supportive. If so, arrangements are made to help the individual with a train or bus pass, clean clothes, food and transport to their point of departure. Once they have arrived home, the social worker will make a follow-up call to determine that all is well.

The next step, obtaining a job, falls in the hands of the relatives or caretakers, with the guidance of the social worker in charge. 

Having assisted in street ministry and field-work in the past, Peterson plans to once again focus his efforts on assisting youths to avoid making the same mistakes he did when he returns to Johannesburg. “I’m going back to do more voluntary work in Joburg. I thought Cape Town would offer me better opportunities, but I’m just thankful to the CIDs for helping me get home, and finally back to my family.”