Bilkiss JAFFARALLI
25 February 2008
Port Louis — Debates are ongoing on poverty. Projects and empowerment programmes are setup for the underprivileged. But what about the homeless? Are they an invisible class of society? Let's have a close insight on them and try to see who they are
In the "Abri de nuit", the homeless can get a hot meal, take a bath and get a decent place to sleep for the night as well as medical facilities.
An open space The earth being your bed with the sky as your cover! Some unknown melodies humming in your ears Thousands of little twinkling stars watching over you No rule, no regulation, absolutely no one! This seems so perfect, so peaceful and so romantic, right? This is what you think! But this beautiful and romantic scene is worth one day only. Not more. Otherwise your most beautiful dream-like truth will turn into your worst nightmare. It's not a typical illusionary love story scenario but the reality of those who have left or lost their homes. The 'homeless' people, as they are called.
Homelessness has a true 'Mauritian face'! Anyone can be the victim of circumstances and find him/herself in a situation of homelessness regardless of sex, religion, colour, class or even academic level. The causes leading to homelessness are many. Drug addiction and alcoholism are often the main causes. Steve, a homeless, has been victim of such circumstances. Despite several efforts by his family to get him out of addiction, Steve could not change. His family finally rejected him. Today, he has succeeded in getting out of addiction but he is still homeless. His family has still not accepted him. "I was a shame for my family. I was the only bad boy in the family. I was lying to them. The problem is because of the harm, which was done before. Now they don't trust me. They are angry with me. I wish that my family could accept me again."
Broken families and even reconstituted families are other causes leading to homelessness. Often, some people can't find their identity in the new family structures. Loneliness, heartbreak and betrayal are also common causes. Many have left their homes because they could not stand their pain anymore. Others have found this world so ridiculous that they have decided to leave everything and create a world of their own.
"Abri de nuit" is an organization, which caters for the homeless. Here, the people are welcomed. They get a meal, bath facilities, clothing, shelter, a decent place to sleep and medical facilities. What is most important is that they recover their dignity. Help for re-integration in the society is also offered. When you enter this center, it's really like all tensions, sorrows, pains and stigma are left outside. Where humans have been rejecting their own fellow kind, here even the animals seem to be welcoming and comforting those in agony. "Solitude is one of the worst things. Often, there are many people coming back to us for support to escape their solitude. Everyone makes mistakes in his life but it's not the past, which counts but the present and his future. I don't want these people to feel unwelcome at any time", says Kursley Goindarajoo, the officer in charge of "Abri de nuit".
These people are often victims of violence. But the worst harm done to them is indifference! The homeless people have just left everything behind and have tried to make wherever they are lost in, to be as much as home-like. Homelessness is not just their problem. Everyone is concerned. Indifference is the worst sin one can ever do to humanity. That's the essence of inhumanity! Perhaps if we look deep inside ourselves, how many of us are still homeless despite living in a house and among other people? We can wake up and stop being indifferent!
JULES, AN EXCEPTIONAL CASE
- Jules, 53, is homeless. He was a professor. He even worked for the United Nations. Jules is a musician by passion and by profession. Another profession of Jules is cooking. He is presently working as a chef in a private firm. All alone and that's how he wants it to be!
You must be asking yourself how he became homeless and why he does not re-integrate the society when he has the means to do it Jules could not find a job, which suited him. He lost all his money and found himself on the road. Today he has a job but still no home and he does not want to!
" My friends put me on the road. Someone brought me to "Abri de nuit". I have no one. I'm like a stone. How can I settle down and form a family when I'm unhappy? I did lots of prayers and had faith in God. I do face indifference in all its forms and from everyone! For me, there's no difference between the rich and the poor as we are all born in the same way and we will do everything in this world and die in the same way too. Here in Mauritius, people think that they are protected against everything. But what they don't realize is that anything can happen to anyone. The worst is when it happens to them, they are not prepared for it at all. This does have drastic consequences on them. We ask people to change their mentality but we must also ask them to stop being indifferent", says Jules.
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