Capitec Outreach Programme

HOMELESSNESS & THE INKATHALO CONVERSATIONS

On the night of 25 May 2020, during the first vicious Cape Town winter storm, Community Chest opened its offices to a group of homeless citizens left destitute under a bridge after the closure of the controversial Strandfontein Homeless Camp.

The former Strandfontein Homeless Action Committee selfmanaged the temporary accommodation during lockdown, with full use of all facilities while staff worked from home. Both parties agreed that temporary shelter would terminate on 31 July 2020.

During the two-month period, Community Chest’s guests were treated to health intervention in the form of TB, HIV and COVID-19 testing via donor partnerships, we provided skills development training, job readiness and CV compilation and even achieved successful family reunifications.

As agreed, residents vacated our Bree Street offices at the end of July and transitioned into alternative accommodation. Youth Solutions housed some residents, funded by Community Chest, Culemborg site management organisation, Ubuntu Circle of Courage, housed others, while a group of mostly employed individuals moved to a Gardens lodge, which became Our House.

Our House was Community Chest’s belief in independent living for the homeless realised and we supported the initiative by funding rental for a limited period, while covering basic living expenses, providing refurbished computers and helping with donations in kind. At the same time, the City of Cape Town, through the office of Councillor Zahid Badroodien, requested an independent, unpaid and therefore unbiased process to provide recommendations to the City’s policies and strategies addressing homelessness in Cape Town.

The Inkathalo Conversations were born, serving as a platform to provide all stakeholders an opportunity to have their opinions heard in an open forum, and to have them taken into consideration, regardless of circumstance.

Designed by Community Chest, and conducted in partnership with Women Lead Movement, The Inkathalo Conversations delved into complex issues of homelessness over two eightweek phases structured and aimed to create a safe, honest and reflective dialogue among civil society, including the homeless, often excluded from the definition of “civil society.”

Findings of the first phase, The Inkathalo Conversations on Homelessness: Phase 1 Comprehensive Report was presented to the City in June 2021.

On 10 October 2020, we commemorated World Homeless Day by hosting a memorial service at the historic Groote Kerk to honour our homeless communities and those that lost their lives whilst living on the streets. At this service, Cape Argus editor, Aziz Hartley, offered Our House manager, Carlos Mesquita, a weekly column to continue the legacy of Danny Oosthuizen who sadly passed away in early 2020.

Community Chest remains committed to seeking longerterm solutions on homelessness to assist the most vulnerable of our society.

THE HUMANITY HUB LAUNCH

Community Chest was one of four NGOs uniting to address the needs of Cape Town’s homeless communities. Together with Souper Troopers, Mini Meltdown and Ladles of Love, we opened the Humanity Hub on the ground floor of our Bree Street offices, acting as a service centre to support and elevate homeless individuals.

The Humanity Hub aims to address the basic needs of homeless people, such as clothing, food and toiletries, while also providing an array of services in the form of skills training, medical/addiction referrals, family mediation, job preparation, workshops, and micro entrepreneurial opportunities.

What sets the Humanity Hub apart from similar interventions is the time and process of a personal journey taken with displaced individuals. The Humanity Hub field workers build solid relationships of trust with individuals and wait until they are ready and comfortable to share their pain. While fieldworkers connected with the City or CCIDs state that homeless people do not want their help, we have people queueing to receive help. The personal approach makes all the difference.

The Humanity Hub was officially launched with a Humanity Walk in March 2021. Situated in the Community Chest Building, The Humanity Hub currently operate on Mondays and Thursdays from 08:30 until 15:00. For further information please email us at info@thehumanityhub.org.

COMMUNITY CHEST PUBLICATIONS

As part of our contribution to thought leadership, Community Chest embarked on our first global online publications in support of international and national days of commemoration. We published the following:

• Challenging False Narratives in a Global

Crisis: Reflections on Human Rights,

Inequality and Securing Food Systems for

World Hunger Day in May 2020

• Serving Justice in a Time of Global Crisis:

Having Inconvenient Conversations for

World Justice Day in July 2020

• Heritage in a Time of Global Crisis: Building

Resilience and Pushing Boundaries for SA

Heritage Day in September 2020

The publications were edited by Community Chest’s Zenariah Barends and co-edited by international experts in their field, Scott Drimie for the first, the late Stanley Henkeman for the second and Kay Jaffer for the last.

As support, we hosted virtual launches on release days and a webinar series with publication contributors as guest speakers.

We launched our book, The South Africa We Want To Live In, compiled and edited by Ryland Fisher at the District Six Homecoming Centre in early December 2020. The book was the culmination of a series of intense dialogues hosted across the Western Cape since January 2019, which sought input from South Africans from all backgrounds as to solutions to our country’s most challenging problems. It received widespread media coverage and we followed it up with a virtual launch in March 2021 to coincide with Human Rights Day. Please go to www.comchest.org.za to purchase your copy in support of our work.