Cape Town - Homeless support organisation, U-turn, is anxiously awaiting to snip the ribbon to their new transitional home facility in Loevenstein, near Bellville.
The transitional house - which creates a peaceful home environment for the homeless – will be a home to champions on the Phase 3 Work-readiness programme by U-turn.
The organisation has described its transitional homes as a bridge between homelessness and living an independent life and is already a haven to Ricardo Meyer, a phase 3 work-readiness champion currently living at Loevenstein.
Meyer was a qualified lifesaver who worked in resorts in the middle east, but his world was turned upside down when it became a whirlpool of drug abuse and his marriage fell apart.
At the night shelter his case worker gave him a lifeline out of addiction by referring him to U-turn. He started his life of recovery and rehabilitation at U-turn.
“In order to be healed I had to go through a difficult phase to find out what was hurting me.
“I can now focus on my own recovery,” said Meyer.
He is currently a work-readiness champion working at one of the U-turn charity shops and living at the new transitional house.
In a statement, the homeless support organisation said “not only are our champions able to have a peaceful sleep, but are on a journey of restoration”.
Meyer embarked on a road of mending the broken pieces of his life and as an act of forgiveness and healing, he visited his wife, filled a basin with water and washed her feet.
“He is able to enjoy privacy in the house that he did not have in shelters, which helps on the journey to healing,” the organisation said.
Meanwhile, U-turn has also been been able to open its Fish Hoek and Parow Homeless Support Centres and a new personal development centre in the Northern Suburbs and is planning to open another in Observatory in the coming weeks.
The organisation’s work-readiness programme has grown from 60 to 105 champions. Their charity shops have grown from eight at the beginning of the year to twelve, with the newest one in Melville, Johannesburg, which opened a few weeks ago.
If you are able to assist by making any donations, visit: https://homeless.org.za/donate/
Cape Times