One on one with Paradise ‘squatter’
Would you be able to sleep outside during the cold winter nights? With no shelter, the Paradise 'squatters' brave the cold on a regular basis.
“We are human beings too,” declare one of the Sutherland Street ‘squatters’.
Having to endure bitterly cold nights during the winter and verbal abuse from the community, the ‘squatter’, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed living on the streets was far from easy.
“There are four of us now and people swear at us, say we are nothing but street children. All we want is some help. If someone just helped me, I would gladly move. As long as I had a roof over my head, a job and food to eat, I would be happy,” said the homeless man.
Braving the cold winter nights out in the open, the ‘squatter’ admitted he had been living in Paradise for three months, while others have lived undisturbed for nearly a year. With nothing more than a few blankets, makeshift beds and small fires to keep them warm, the homeless experience a way of life that others are fortunate enough never to endure.
“We do move around and when it rains, we sleep under bridges. But, it gets very cold in winter,” he said.
While not elaborating on where he came from, the young man said he had left home because he could not afford to travel on a daily basis. “I work in gardens sometimes and can’t afford to go up and down. There was also no food at home,” he added dejectedly.
Accusations have been made that the ‘squatters’ dig in municipal skips for food.
While the homeless man denied doing this out of a small sense of pride, he explained when he was able to earn money, he would purchase food from stores located in the taxi rank and then cook it over a small fire.
“But there are days, when I go to sleep hungry with no food to eat and I feel so much colder,” said the ‘squatter’.
With residents in the area looking to the municipality to rid Paradise of the ‘squatters’, the homeless man said he would be forced to go home if he was told to move.
“What can I do? I will have to go home then, even though there is no food,” he claimed.
When the reports of the informal settlers were brought forward, Ward 4 Councillor, Tanya de Jager, contacted the relevant authorities and steps are now under way to remove the ‘squatters’ from the land.
