By Yaseen Kippie

While much needed rain has graced the Mother City, the Cape Storm has plunged many homeless people into desperation for a place to stay. With over 4000 homeless in the streets of Cape Town, shelters across the Western Cape have reported record numbers of guests. One such organization committed to reignite the dignity of the many out in the cold is Haven Nights Shelters.

Spokesperson Hassan Khan said 2500 people slept in shelters last night, of which 1136 slept in Haven Nights Shelters.

“We are close to having used up all of our beds. We are now in an emergency phase, which opens up our dining rooms to provide the homeless with food and blankets. Once that becomes full, we will send people to hospitals and police stations to be in waiting rooms in order to keep warm and safe from the wind and rain,” he said.

While the shelters assert that they are experiencing great support from the community for 40 years, there is a need for more support, in the form of good quality single-bed blankets, non-perishable foods, clothing and toiletry kits, according to Khan.

Items can be dropped off at Haven Nights Shelter’s head office at 2 Napier Street, Greenpoint (Contact 021 425 4700) or at any of the other shelters in Woodstock, Claremont, Wynberg, Mossel Bay, Ceres, Malmesbury, Paarl, Kraaifontein, Kensington, Belville, District six, Kalk Bay and Retreat.

“Our job is to ensure that people have a dignified stay, good quality hospitality and excellent social work. Our primary mission is to get homeless people back to a home, family and community. Our secondary mission is to be a pipeline to the poor,” said Khan.

The Haven Nights Shelters take excess items to other shelters as well as to distribution points for the poor that are not in shelters, but are still on the pavements in Cape Town.

While the number of homeless people exceeds the capacity at shelters, it is often hard to accommodate everyone. Despite this, Haven Nights Shelters is free of charge for the first 10 days. From the eleventh day it is 12 rand per day.

They also provide small jobs for the homeless who stay with them.

“For every hour of work, we give them a passport which equates to a night stay. In order to fund this, we have a buy-a-bed campaign, which is used exclusively for the homeless, and not any other financial needs of the shelters, such as electricity,” Khan remarked. VOC