ANONYMOUS of Terenure writes:
Your article in the Kempton Express of May 26 about the Manger Care Centre refers.
I read with interest about how, exactly, these people help the “destitute” and phoned the number that was provided.
Why does Manger Care Centre place an article in your paper that they help the destitute, the unemployed, recovering addicts, etc., when the number was phoned and the reply was: ”Wait two weeks”?
I always thought the word “destitute” means that this person needs help and help right away, not in two week’s time. Don’t get me wrong, I understand if the place is fully booked and there is no more accommodation available.
My son is an addict/recovering addict, probably more addicted to the medication than the drugs themselves. I chased him out of the house because of various reasons (things stolen from the house to feed his habit) and he has slept on the street for the past five days.
He phoned The Manger Care Centre to see if they could help but their reply, after explaining the situation to them, was to wait two weeks, then call back.
Do they really want to help, or was the article just a ploy to gain “donations” for them?
The sad part about this story is that he came home yesterday afternoon (June 1) to ask us for a blanket (understandably) as it is winter time now and to sleep on the street is no joy to any human out there.
So, the next best thing, here come the Metro Police to do their regular clean-up of the so called “vagrants” with their belongings and to remove them from the streets of Kempton. They were ordered to leave their belongings and disappear.
Yes, I agree, we need a clean society to be proud of, but to keep their belongings just doesn’t make sense to me, what do they do with them?
The blanket we gave my son is surely not rubbish and is fairly new.
By now, we all know how corrupt this country is in many walks of life.
So, me thinking again: why not just claim the blanket in question, after all, it is fairly new!
Charlette de Villiers, Manger Care Centre financial administrator, replies:
The Manger Care Centre helps individuals to help others and, thus, enables the next generation to excel. It targets areas such as feeding schemes, clothing provision, skills development, community upliftment, employment opportunities and rehabilitation care projects.
Eden House in Benoni supports abused women and children, orphans, recovering addicts, ex-parolees, the unemployed, destitute and disabled persons, and elderly people who are unable to care for themselves.
From the article two points stand out: one target area is to help others in our rehabilitation care projects, while Eden House supports recovering addicts.
The complainant does mention that, “My son, who is an addict/recovering currently…”. I cannot clarify this unless the complainant can state in which rehabilitation centre his son has been rehabilitated. He also states that he is an addict, so no clarity about his current state.
After investigation, it was found that a woman did phone in and stated that her son was a heroin addict and he needed a place to stay. The gentleman who helped her on the phone, who is the person who does our intakes, did tell the woman that the person must be clean for two weeks before we can accommodate him.
The reason for this instruction is that we support recovering addicts and not addicts who are currently using. We do not have medical facilities, as with a rehabilitation centre, to help addicts come off their drugs. Some people die if they do not receive the right treatment.
We have rehabilitation care projects to help the rehabilitation addicts. The programmes are called “Road to Recovery”, a Christian foundational programme on Monday nights and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) on Thursday nights.
We also have counsellors, free of charge, to help the rehabilitated person keep his sobriety.
On our webpage it also states: Eden’s purpose, situated in Benoni, is to support abused women and children, orphans, recovering addicts, ex-parolees, the unemployed, destitute and physically challenged persons and elderly. All admissions to Eden must be in a position to care for themselves and perform physical tasks/work.
Currently we are full for both male and female. We have the capacity to house 150 beneficiaries at our Eden Care Centre and currently we have 149, including children. We also have an open door policy and anyone is welcome to come and see how we implement the funds.
