“These are broken men, but no one is beyond repair,” says Pastor Ricky Marais, perched atop a guide rail in the main hall of the Service Dining Rooms.
Besides helping with the day-to-day running of the operation, Pastor Ricky offers empowerment sessions to many homeless people, providing them with life skills and practical skills to make a living.
He’s a vibrant speaker, ebullient in nature, and has a relaxed manner that makes him easy to talk to.
His evangelical training also helps him listen without prejudice or judgement – key factors when addressing some of the deep psycho-social problems the homeless face.
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“They sometimes suffer deep depression, but they don’t know where to go. You know, most of them don’t even acknowledge they are ill. But depression is a real illness. And it saps your will to live.”
Pastor Ricky engages with the homeless on a personal level. He knows almost all of them by name.
“I try to connect with them. Sometimes just talking about a problem does help. If it’s really bad, we refer them to the relevant places.
“That’s why we do these workshops. They need to become whole again.”
Zamuxolo suffered depression when he started living on the streets. He didn’t want to speak to anyone.
“I would just sit on a bench all day, or just lie down. I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to beg, ask people for things. I just dug in the dirt.”
Magadien Wentzel, who volunteers on the project that involves a group of about 40 homeless people who work for a daily stipend, said: “A lot these guys don’t know where to go for help. I’m their pastor and their imam.”
Wentzel said the mood swings often displayed by the homeless are linked to depression. Edgar said: “Some days we’re high and some days we’re low. You can’t be chirpy all the time, but we make do with what we have.”
Edgar said drug abuse is rife among some as they battle to deal with their emotions.
“I wouldn’t say I was depressed. Sometimes I get sad, but that’s normal.”
A woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said drug abuse fuelled depression, but “it’s the only thing we have”.
“If I get a little bit of money, what am I going to do? Save it? Or buy some tik or unga? That’s our social circle.
“You go to work and there you have friends. You socialise over work. You talk about work. Our social circle is drugs. We come together around it. We share it. It’s very difficult to break that cycle. It’s not like we want to be druggies.”
She said most homeless people don’t know they suffer from depression and the drug use only serves to exacerbate the problem.
Pastor Ricky said he teaches the homeless skills to keep them busy.
“I teach them how to make clocks from old vinyl records.
“I teach them to make ottomans… We get scrap wood and donations of materials and I teach them to make and upholster them. This they can use to sell, make some money for themselves. But there’s also a greater purpose – they are kept busy. The devil finds work for idle hands.”
Pastor Ricky also runs self-worth workshops and teaches them to be proud of small victories.
He said every bit of motivation helps them regain confidence, but it’s easy to slide back into old habits.
“If you look at the ultimate goal of reintegration, that’s a big and daunting goal. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, so we focus on small victories at a time.”
Another homeless man, who asked not to be named, said mental illness is prevalent on the street.
“When I first got to the streets the things I thought would bother me didn’t bother me as much. But the things I thought would be easy were the things that got to me the most. I wasn’t prepared for the lack of sleep. That will drive you insane.”
He said he saw depression everywhere.
“And it’s not like it’s easy to get help. For someone not living on the street, an appointment would cost you R800 to see a psychologist or psychiatrist. And then you need to get referred.
“Now, for the homeless, you can’t get psychiatric help at a public hospital without a referral. To get a referral, you need to spend something like eight hours waiting at a clinic. There should be easier access to mental health services because it is so prevalent on the streets.”
Cape Argus