World Homeless Day
by SIBA QUMA, PROJECTS LIASON, AFRICAN SUNRISE VOLUNTEERING
The issue of homeless people is one that some find uncomfortable to even talk about which results in the gap between the homeless and everyone else. Walking down the street and a homeless person asks for spare change and we often experience a battle in the mind one half feels guilty of the privilege of having food and a house while the other half consoles the other half by saying you can never be sure what they use it for many will probably buy drugs anyway.
Yes true some will use it to buy drugs and some are genuinely hungry and the sad part is you can never tell for sure which is which. The best you could do is buy food and hand it to them. We at African Sunrise have a heart in bringing the community together, making it safer and at the same time feeding the homeless. Every Friday we join soup kitchen observatory in feeding the homeless as well as building relationships and removing the division. Oh and about the drugs and alcohol, it is a coping mechanism. I once spoke to a guy at the Friday soup session and he openly told me that with any small money he gets he buys a bottle of strong alcohol because the streets are cold at night but that drink warms him up and send him straight to sleep.
The reality is that life is tough, life is ever changing, people don’t willingly choose to be poor or homeless but circumstances in life push to such outcomes. We should see the homeless as fellow human beings who have had a rough patch in life rather as sub-humans. Believe it or not it is possible to move from being homeless to being a success in life, all it takes is one Good Samaritan to stop and carry the person to their destiny. Ubuntu has no exceptions.
On world Homeless Day let us take a moment to sit back, reflect and act.
The issue of homeless people is one that some find uncomfortable to even talk about which results in the gap between the homeless and everyone else. Walking down the street and a homeless person asks for spare change and we often experience a battle in the mind one half feels guilty of the privilege of having food and a house while the other half consoles the other half by saying you can never be sure what they use it for many will probably buy drugs anyway.
Yes true some will use it to buy drugs and some are genuinely hungry and the sad part is you can never tell for sure which is which. The best you could do is buy food and hand it to them. We at African Sunrise have a heart in bringing the community together, making it safer and at the same time feeding the homeless. Every Friday we join soup kitchen observatory in feeding the homeless as well as building relationships and removing the division. Oh and about the drugs and alcohol, it is a coping mechanism. I once spoke to a guy at the Friday soup session and he openly told me that with any small money he gets he buys a bottle of strong alcohol because the streets are cold at night but that drink warms him up and send him straight to sleep.
The reality is that life is tough, life is ever changing, people don’t willingly choose to be poor or homeless but circumstances in life push to such outcomes. We should see the homeless as fellow human beings who have had a rough patch in life rather as sub-humans. Believe it or not it is possible to move from being homeless to being a success in life, all it takes is one Good Samaritan to stop and carry the person to their destiny. Ubuntu has no exceptions.
On world Homeless Day let us take a moment to sit back, reflect and act.
