Oh, how I wish I was a dog in Cape Town!

Homeless person Danny Oosthuizen will be writing a daily column for the duration of #TheDignityProject.

Homeless person Danny Oosthuizen will be writing a daily column for the duration of #TheDignityProject.

Published Apr 14, 2016

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The Cape Argus has launched a new collaborative editorial initiative called #TheDignityProject – a 15-part daily series about the homeless people of Cape Town. Homeless person Danny Oosthuizen will be writing a daily column for the duration of the project. Read the fourth entry in Danny’s Diary below ...

Cape Town - An alarming thing about living on the streets is how often our belongings get stolen… sadly, most of the time by people we know.

Over the Easter weekend I had my bag stolen. I now have only what I am wearing. No long pants…

I am freezing my ass off in the rain. No toiletries. No nothing. If only we could have a place to store our stuff…

My blanket is damp and smelly. I have nowhere to hang it out to dry. If I hang it in the Company’s Garden, you might think I am setting up a squatter camp!

That night I was running around town to find a dry spot like a mad man!

I ended up in front of Edgars in St George’s Mall. Had a rude awakening at 5am. My reaction to that was “Jou ma se!”

The most beautiful phrase is “My ma se kind”. It just sounds so loving. And nobody, but nobody can say “Jou ma se…” like a true Capie (you can’t even translate it to keep the funny in it).

There are some loving and caring people out there, and then you get the stuck-up ones that can’t even greet you back… (Oops, sorry! She has her earphones in! She can’t hear me!)

My bad! Assumptions né?

Anyway, apart from the theft, there are currently three things that are so problematic:

* Toilets.

* Drinking water.

* Washing facilities.

After dark, there are just no toilets for us. When the train station closes, we’re stuck. We must do it in the bushes or behind a tree. Why the city doesn’t provide us with portable toilets is beyond me!

There is a special shift they do at Jesus Saves where, early in the morning, a cleaning crew goes out to the “hot spots” and cleans up the pee and poo.

Toilets, please!

The drinking fountain in the Company’s Garden (the only one) has been out of order for weeks now.

The only other place is in Green Point or we must walk all the way to Sea Point beach for water.

Believe me, we will walk miles to get to a clean toilet with paper, soap, etc. The toilet in the Golden Acre costs R1 – that is the price of a “Drink O Pop” sachet, in case you did not know.

Oh, how I wish I was a dog! They have special water holes in De Waal Park and little plastic bags to dump their poo in and a dedicated drum to do so!

* To engage with Danny, e-mail him at [email protected]

Cape Argus

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