'This is not my forever' – five accounts of homelessness and the hope of rebuilding a life - IOL

"This is not my forever." Five individuals share their journeys of survival and their hopes for the future as part of a new digital storytelling campaign by the CCID.

The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) has launched a digital storytelling campaign in which people who have experienced homelessness describe the losses, daily struggles and hopes behind their circumstances.

“This Is Not My Forever” brings together accounts of family deaths, childhood abuse, addiction, separation from children, and the difficulty of finding somewhere safe to sleep.

Through first-person video interviews, the campaign challenges the idea that homelessness defines a person permanently.

After finding her turning point, Deidre now uses her journey to help others facing similar struggles see the light.

Born in the Northern Cape in 1973, Deidre’s life unravelled in 2014 when her relationship ended. Forced out of her accommodation with neither a home nor a job, she found herself adrift in Cape Town.

Consumed by guilt over being absent from her children’s lives and ashamed to return with nothing, she developed a drinking problem to avoid facing them.

Her lowest point came while living on the mountain among rats. She recalls becoming consumed by the search for another fix or drink, with little concern for anything else. Living with HIV, she also did not have her medication.

The moment that prompted her to reconsider her life came in a bathroom on Woodstock Main Road. She looked at herself in the mirror.

“No, this is not me,” she recalls thinking.

Deidre has kept photographs of herself from that period. Looking at them now, she describes pride in the changes she has made and a sense of belonging that she had lost. She is no longer ashamed to tell her story, instead using it to encourage people facing circumstances she recognises from her own life.

“I’m glad where I am today to help other people to see the light,” she says.

Having experienced homelessness herself, she now has an opportunity to help others find their way out.

Jerome is working towards a future where he can provide the safety, affection, and everyday routines for his children that his own childhood lacked.

Jerome Jones traces his experience of street life back to a harrowing childhood in Elsies River. Fleeing an abusive father, he found himself living on the streets by the age of nine.

Ironically, it was there that he found companionship, discovering the affection from friends that he had been denied at home.

His early years became a cycle of substance use, crime, and imprisonment. He went in and out of jail and became a member of the 28s gang.

For Jerome, explaining those experiences includes explaining why the streets once felt preferable to home: the friendships he found there met a fundamental need for care, even as his life became bound up in the criminal justice system.

He now speaks about working on himself and preparing for a different future. He credits assistance from the CCID and involvement in a reintegration programme with giving him another chance. His children are central to what he wants next.

One of his wishes is to “make them porridge in the morning” and to be present for the ordinary routines of his children's lives.

It is a specific ambition from a man whose own childhood lacked the safety and affection he needed.

His story moves from the boy who left home to the father who wants to be there for his children.

Following a heartbreaking separation from her family, Lindsay’s ultimate hope is to reunite with her children.

For 40-year-old Lindsay from Manenberg, a devastating succession of losses changed the trajectory of her life.

Her brother was shot in their house, and shortly after, both her mother and her mother’s sister died of terminal cancer. While grieving, her uncle sold the family home without telling her.

She links the abrupt loss of the house directly to her arrival in central Cape Town and the heart-wrenching separation from her children. Her account of daily life is direct: she wakes up and goes to the traffic lights to ask motorists for money.

She speaks openly about her own drug use and describes getting her fix and eating as part of that daily routine. She also describes the deep embarrassment she has felt while living on the streets.

Her appeal to people judging her circumstances and those on the streets of Cape Town is simple: “Do not judge a book by its cover.”

Lindsay’s hope is to get her children back, a wish that remains central as she navigates the exhausting demands of her present life.

I can be where you are, and you can be where I am." Lucinda challenges the harmful assumption that homelessness is a choice.

For 35-year-old Lucinda from Elsies River, daily life is an exhausting pursuit of basic survival. Her days are consumed by looking for money for food and navigating the intense difficulty of finding somewhere suitable to spend the night in Cape Town.

“You can’t sleep anywhere,” Lucinda says.

Even places with some overhead cover can leave people exposed to wet conditions. She describes the ever-present dread of waking up soaked and becoming ill. Her account makes clear how much of a day is taken up by immediate needs.

Finding food does not settle the question of where to sleep and finding temporary shelter does not necessarily mean having adequate protection from the elements.

Lucinda also challenges the assumption that everyone on the streets has chosen to be there.

"It’s not everyone who chooses to be homeless. I can be where you are, and you can be where I am.”

She believes change is possible while emphasising the need to take the first step oneself, highlighting how crucial it is for support to be available when someone is ready to take that step.

Having experienced the harsh realities of street life and addiction, Miles now wants to help others find a way forward.

Growing up in an environment deeply affected by gangsterism, Miles was desperately searching for a male figure to guide him. Lacking positive influences, he came to regard local gang members as role models.

He says those influences paved the way to his involvement in drugs. He began smoking cannabis, moved on to harder substances, and eventually found himself living on the streets.

Looking back, he identifies an encounter with someone from the CCID and entering a support programme as the catalyst for the change in his life.

He is now pursuing an ambition he once shared with his mother: helping people experiencing addiction and homelessness.

“I want to give them hope that change is possible,” he says.

His idea of a better future includes other people being able to leave homelessness behind. Having experienced street life himself, he wants to help them find a new way forward.

His account follows those of people describing loss, shame, and daily survival, showing what support can make possible beyond an individual’s immediate circumstances: the opportunity to assist someone else.

The Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) is asking members of the public to visit its campaign website to learn more and support the initiative. 

“Together, partnerships can fund the shelter, rehabilitation, and work-readiness programmes that support reintegration and make a lasting exit from homelessness possible,” CCID Social Development Manager Tara Gerardy-Bissolati said.IOL