Man sleeping rough gives insight to CEO SleepOut
SANDTON - BIG names in the business sector are gearing up for the CEO SleepOut on 18 June on Gwen Lane in Sandton.
To get a perspective of what the CEOs can expect from a night on the street, Sandton Chronicle caught up with artist Abram Kgoeli who is based on the corner of Sandton Drive and Marie Avenue, and lives in the adjacent greenbelt in a small shack.
The CEO SleepOut concept was created in 2006 by Australian businessman and philanthropist Bernard Fehon. The initiative involves CEOs and executives in big companies spending an evening sleeping on the street to gain first-hand experience of the lives of the impoverished and homeless, while raising funds for those in need.
Kgoeli, who commended the efforts of the CEOs, said his staple diet was mielie meal which he cooks at a communal fire with other greenbelt occupants.
He said he uses plastic and cardboard which he lays over his blankets in his small shack to keep warm – the cardboard is to hold the heat in, while the plastic is to prevent any water from reaching his blankets.
Kgoeli gives the CEOs advice on how he keeps warm in the cold Johannesburg evening in the video below:
Chairperson of the CEO SleepOut, Tish Stewart said the initiative was not only a great way to raise funds for the impoverished, but would also raise awareness and help develop empathy for homeless people.
SleepOut participant and CEO of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, Brent Williams said, “There is some risk that CEOs sleeping out for one night is not a sufficiently authentic effort by Corporate South Africa to roll up its sleeves and make sustained contributions to dealing with our country’s developmental and other challenges.”
CEO of Girls and Boys Town South Africa, Lee Loynes said, “We want to ensure that the evening is not seen as a once-off event where leaders and CEOs come spend the night and walk away forgetting the experience when they return to their real lives.
“The evening should be the start of a movement through which we deepen philanthropy in order to make measurable gains in how we look after South Africa’s girls and boys, and how we respond to other social challenges we face today.”
