Durban represented at homeless network meeting
The National Homeless Network Meeting was held in Bloemfontein.
MORE than 50 individuals, represening seven cityies got together recently for the third annual National Homeless Network Meeting to discuss homelessness.
In the past the Denis Hurley Centre was the only organisation to represent Durban, but this year the group included representatives from iCare, We Are Durban, Grace Aid and the homeless community itself.
“Many of us have been working together on the eThekwini Task Team convened by the Deputy Mayor. We were also joined for the first time by representatives from Pietermaritzburg who are beginning to create a response network there,” said Raymond Perrier from the Denis Hurley Centre.
At the meeting the Durban group was reunited with partners in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria, with whom the group had already built strong links based around a national steering committee.
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“We explored the four mandates of the group – to share best practice, as many were interested to learn about our street bookselling project, to develop national advocacy, as it was decided that healthcare should be our current focus, to explore a shared research agenda, and to improve liaison with government at all levels, a decided mixed experience around South Africa,” said Perrier.
The host at the meeting in Bloemfontein was the ‘Towers of Hope Project’ which has turned the city’s iconic two-towered NGK church – a place once known for its defence of the old régime- into a beacon for the poor in the centre of the city.
“With them as guides we visited and were inspired by the shelters in the city, some of which receive government subsidies. It is good to see what is possible and to bring ideas back here,” said Perrier.
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