Denis Hurley Centre reflects on a year of empowering Durban’s homeless
According to a recent survey, most homeless people are looking for an opportunity to work so they can get off the streets
ONE way that the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) equips Durban’s homeless to earn an income is through their street bookseller project, Street Lit, which sees vendors sell pre-owned books. During the festive season, book vendors gained permission from the eThekwini Municipality to sell along the beachfront.
The centre said that a survey commissioned by eThekwini Municipality and conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council, showed that 72% of homeless people most want an opportunity to work so they can get off the streets.
“We are pleased that this December a number of initiatives have enabled some disadvantaged men and women to stay off the streets and earn a decent living—decent not only for the way in which they earn money but also the amount they can earn. Tsogo Sun, who were early supporters of the DHC, invited us to recommend candidates for seasonal work in their beachfront hotels,” said the centre.
Stuart Talbot, DHC empowerment co-ordinator, led a group of homeless through an exercise of preparing for assessments and interviews.
“Even if not all of were successful, it was still a useful programme for them. In the end, two young men who have been on our joint residential programme with iCare, and one who is completing the rehab programme at the Napier Centre 4 Healing, were selected and started working at the Garden Court South Beach,” said the centre.
Another initiative in partnership with ABSA, supported by Catalyx, is enabling a huge number of young people who have never worked to have one year of paid employment in different organisations.
“Several homeless people have benefitted from this scheme including some who are now working at DHC, and some working for our cleaning contractor Victoria Market Services,” said the centre.
