THE FORGOTTEN
PEOPLE
Muslim proverb: “To
understand a man, you've got to walk a mile in his shoes, whether they fit or
not”.
American First
People’s saying: “Do not judge your
neighbour until you walk two moons in his moccasins.”
Businessmen Marc Buhrer and Shane McConnachie spent 7 days living rough on the streets of
Cape Town - to find out what the homeless and destitute go through every day of
their lives. Destitute
means to be utterly lacking in any means of subsistence, being completely impoverished,
and Marc and Shane each had with them only a blanket (and a cell phone in case
of real emergency). They earned about R20 (just over US$2) a day for food, by
begging or washing cars, and slept on construction sites, open fields or
alleyways. They experienced cold, hunger, depression, abuse, boredom and
despair.
Having to make eye contact while
begging was demoralising and humiliating, whether or not they were rejected,
taunted, verbally abused or given money. Says Marc: “It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do”.
Although a few overnight shelters exist
for the street people, many avoid them because they feel patronised,
imprisoned, and dependent.
These forgotten people are perceived as
a nuisance by the general public. Marc and Shane found a total lack of
‘ownership’ of territories among the homeless that they met. Instead they found
a very real community spirit, where at night people gathered, shared bread,
told their stories.
Marc and Shane met and listened to the
stories of:
G, a former gang member, his body
covered with prison tattoos, who feels constantly condemned by society even
though he has changed and wants a better future
J, who has been on the streets since
childhood, for 45 years
F, who accompanied her mother when she
moved from rural George to Cape Town, and has been living rough ever since
P, who collects and sells scrap metal,
is homeless but working and has hope and a vision
Clearly living rough becomes a way of
life, a situation that once in, people find almost impossible to break out of. Their
journey was captured by Co-Op TV and may be viewed at www.co-optv.com (Walk the Walk – life on
the streets)
Their experience mirrors those of others who have also sought to
understand:
· Texan journalist John Griffin, a white man, darkened
his skin, assumed the identity of a black man, spent 6 weeks hitchhiking and
traveling on Greyhound buses through the ‘deep south’, and experienced first
hand the stereotyping and prejudice facing black people.1
·
Teacher Jane
Elliott’s conducted a diversity experiment with her grade school children in
Iowa. Immediately after the death of Martin Luther King she split her class
into ‘blue-eyed’ and ‘brown-eyed’, gave and withheld privileges, treated one
group as superior. In an amazingly short space of time she created a ‘racial’
divide, observed how the learning performance of the ‘inferior’ group declined.
When the groups were switched, the same result occurred.2 a follow
up with the original class years later to see the extent to which the new
values that she had instilled, still remained.3
Walk
the Walk is a charity initiative arranged by Dare to Share, a registered NPO that
has evolved under Marc and Shane’s leadership. Choosing to live for a time on
the streets was a part of this campaign, aimed at raising consciousness about
the plight of the less fortunate homeless
folks of Cape Town. Awareness is of course just the first step on
a path to finding solutions. View their final diary entry at:
If
you’d like to contribute in any way, contact Shane or Marc on 082 9218975, 072 2371513
or at shane@inspire-cor.co.za
References:
1. Black Like Me
by (Penguin 1962). Griffin, John Howard
2. Video documentaries The Eye of the Storm
(1970) and A
Class Divided (1985)
