Team Field Auto Electrical writes:
Regarding shopfront squatters: these people have lost everything in life. Somewhere down the road of life they have lost their way and are now living on the streets.
They are only trying to make a living through begging for donations on the streets. At night they sleep on the pavements and in front of shops.
The shop owners complain to the police or the municipality and all the police do is to confiscate their belongings. The only things they have left in this world. As if this would solve the problems?
The saddest of all is that these people could be doctors or lawyers or pharmacists. They could have studied at a university and obtained a degree, but somewhere in their lives, something happened that caused them to lose their way.
We will never know the stories of their lives because we are too consumed with our own lives. We see them at the traffic light or at the corner and we look the other way. We do not want to see the hurt in their eyes. We do not even want to give them a friendly greeting. Not even some recognition that they exist.
Have you stopped to think that these people might be asking for a different kind of help? That they might not want your money but that they might need help in getting their lives back on track? That they might just need a toothbrush or bathroom facilities?
Did we ever think that they might be using drugs to ward off the cold from the night or to forget what happened in their lives? They might need help into a rehabilitation centre where they could get off the drugs.
What happened to our humanity? What can we do to help these people? If we spend some time with them on the streets, sit down together on the pavement and share a meal with them, listen to their stories and get to know them in person, you might be surprised.
What they need for a start is a tent to sleep in for the night, but the question is where could they put up their tents at night? Nobody would want to see a few tents in front of their shops or in front of their houses on the pavement.
Therefore, we appeal to the municipality and councillors to assist with a property or a place where these people could sleep at night. By doing this we could get these people away from sleeping on the pavements and in front of the shops.
By doing this we could stop them from bathing in the fountains. By doing this we could give them back some of their humanity.
