I find myself writing to help me process things. This week has been really hard. It's been a week of being exposed to other people's suffering. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for them to live through these experiences. Earlier in the week I had heard the story of 2 young children beaten with a belt by an older teen. They had the bruises to show. This happened in a home setting. Trying to use the correct reporting channels proved frustrating, time consuming and was met with little compassion as there were literally death cases to deal with at the same time in the hospital casualty.
Then today was hard too. We have a bi monthly meeting with a few children who live on the streets. We are busy taking them through the Protective Behaviours programme in the hope of arming them with some skills to be safer on the streets.
Only one of the children arrived today, but they left before the discussion time. There were 2 adults there today who are also living on the streets. We decided to go ahead with the conversation talking about our theme "We all have the right to feel safe at all times."
We started talking about safe people and safe places. There were a few people mentioned who would be seen as safe people and then when we moved onto safe places, the answer was - there are no safe places! Without any hesitation that was their answer. Can you just for a moment imagine that in your own life, to not have anywhere where you feel safe. The constant anxiety and trauma must be overwhelming. We spent the rest of the time just hearing about their lived experiences on the street. It broke my heart and made me angry.
The one man has been beaten up on multiple occasions and has had his ribs broken, so that when he tries to lie down at night he battles to find a position that feels comfortable. Remember the ground is hard, there's no soft bed. The people who have beaten him are security personnel who patrol the area at night!! He has woken up to 3 men standing over him and then been beaten. He, along with other people have their possessions taken from them on a regular basis, often by law enforcement in their mandate to 'tidy up the area.' I have seen this take place before. It is heart breaking to see the few things a person owns being taken away to be burned or thrown away. I can almost guarantee that they would battle to get attention if they had to report beatings or any mistreatment to the police.
People in the area suggest shelters as an option, but shelters are very often full or carry a daily charge which many people who are homeless or houseless do not have. We desperately need more shelters to alleviate some of this crisis, but where will the funding come from? There is a group of people in Gqeberha who have been working towards this end, but their progress has been halted due to lack of funds.
I have attended Crime Forum meetings, and yes we all agree that crime is not ok and we need creative ways and many people involved so that everyone can stay safe. Hopefully we also agree that poverty, unemployment, hunger, abuse and homelessness are also not ok and that solutions are needed for this too. There are no easy fixes. But I am so tired of the existing solutions on the table of chasing people out of the area so that they are not visible to those who have a problem with them, of humanity being stripped of people by calling them vagrants and bag scratchers, of accusing those on the street of all the crime and drug dealing, of illegally beating people up (I am on my local neighborhood watch where recently someone publicly, and boastingly declared how they had a sore wrist from beating up some people who would not leave the area, because 'violence is the only language they understand.'), of threatening businesses and churches who step in to help with food and clothing, of stealing their few possessions from them and of having so little or no compassion for human beings who are clearly suffering. We, as fellow citizens, need to do better. Let's start with humane conversations and restoring dignity to people in the way we talk to them and about them. There are many small things that could be done to relieve some of the pressure they are living with. I am also sure there are many big things we can do to lobby for policy changes that would better the lives of those with less in our country.
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