This year, despite the negative effects that a global economic recession has had on homelessness, CCID fieldworkers have once again brought passion, patience and perseverance to bear on the difficult job of helping children and adults living on the streets of the Central City.
Dwindling space at city shelters, limited powers of intervention, a high rate of recidivism and a host of social ills exasperated by harsh economic conditions – when faced with such a cascade of challenges, fieldworkers might be forgiven for becoming despondent. But despite the difficulties faced by the CCID Social Development fieldworkers on a daily basis, their stories of the past year are filled with hope:
“A visit not too long ago by Oom Johnny, who was very successfully reunited with his daughter from George, caused quite a stir amongst his former friends when they saw how well he looks now that he is happily reunited with his family.”
“Elizabeth returned to her family in Valhalla Park after the death of her common law husband. She has not returned to the streets since then and has expressed appreciation to us for always having been there for her and her man.”
“And of course Aunty Morley who is now very happy living in Blikkiesdorp in Delft, after many years on the streets.”
Making the invisible visible
The dedication and level of personal interaction implied by these stories is obvious. Moreover, these are just some of the many stories in which a fieldworker’s intervention has helped someone’s mother, father, son or daughter to get off the street and improve their lives. And, while the difficulties remain, CCID Social Development has also enjoyed several important successes in the last 12 months. The fieldwork team has had particular success in keeping down the rate of mothers with children coming to the Central City to beg. In addition, despite the insufficient number of shelter spaces available in the Central city, the team has also managed to continue to find accommodation for clients, sometimes having to go as far afield as Paarl to find a bed.
The CCID Social Development team are also proud of the number of families they have reunited in the last year. According to a recent report, “it is remarkable to notice how often people come to Cape Town with very little support and with only basic personal items, in search of a better life for themselves and often their whole family. Often they then find themselves robbed of their personal possessions and left destitute on the street. Very often their families cannot even assist them to get back home and that is where we as a CCID really make a difference in the lives of these very desperate people.”
CCID proud of Social Development fieldwork team
The CCID fieldwork team points to the change in their client’s lives as their greatest success. In the fieldworkers’ own words: “Our success can best be measured in the willingness and cooperation of our clients to accept the options available to them to ‘start their lives over again’.”
As 2012 draws to a close, Cape Town, as a caring city, can once again be proud of the work done by the CCID fieldworkers.
“It is often said about social development work that it is difficult to measure the success in our department, but this is not true! If we measure the people that we were able to assist back home to their families and the joy of a long lost son, daughter, mother or father returning, it can never fully be explained or captured by those who’s ‘day’ or ‘life’ we changed.”
Words: Ambre Nicolson