TIME TO ROLL OUT THE CARING CARAVAN

Mar 31, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Georgetown was once known as “The Garden City”. Then as things deteriorated it began to be unofficially called “The Garbage City”. Today, with so many destitute persons living on its streets, it may soon acquire another infamous distinction.
Most of the destitute are to be found in Georgetown. There is a perfectly logical explanation for this. The opportunities for economic improvement are greater in the city. Thus, even the indigent and needy know the best chances of survival are within the bowels of towns where incomes are generally higher than the countryside and where they are most likely to be better rewarded.
Unfortunately, the absence of serious programs of integration means that most of our street people subsist on the periphery of society, exploited, hungry, unkempt and smelly.
There are benches in public parks and avenues. These make for perfect resting places at night. But even these public places are no longer safe and thus the homeless find all manner of cracks and crevices in which to get some sleep.
Just before a major international event last year, the government had a campaign to remove persons from off the streets. It was denied that this campaign had anything to do with the international event that was being held. The public was assured that the campaign to remove the destitute from off of our streets would be an ongoing exercise. But has it been?
A tour of the country’s markets and pavements – some of the main areas targeted during the campaign – would reveal a shocking number of persons sleeping on the streets. Was it that the campaign lulled? Or was it that the original goal of a continuous campaign was not achieved?
Whatever the reasons for the high number of destitute on our streets and public places, there is now more than ever a need to address this issue. The benches that were established in many avenues and parks were not intended as beds. They were meant for the public to sit on. Today it is quite a challenge to find a vacant bench in a public place that is not taken up by persons who live on the streets.
In many cases, it is discouraging to sit on these benches whenever they are not occupied since the putrid smell seems to linger long after the destitute have left.
With a major international sporting event due in a couple of weeks, and with a legion of foreigners coming for the event, the next few weeks are expected to see hectic activities to spruce up the city and make the place appealing for visitors.
And thus the destitute are expected to earn some more attention. No doubt the caring caravan is going to be wheeled back into action and a great many of the street sleepers are going to be carted off to the Night Shelter.
By now however it ought to be obvious to the authorities that a permanent solution to the problem is needed. The institutions for housing the homeless are clearly insufficient to house the many indigent persons in our midst and thus attention needs to be paid to finding additional and better accommodation for these persons, as well as having a program to help them to reintegrate with their families and have homes of their own.
They too have skills and while they may not be able to command a place in the Boardroom, they can be put to gainful work. The first priority is, however, to find them a place to live.
Sometime ago, the government announced that it was building an institution for the homeless in Onverwagt.
It is not yet clear whether work has started but that institution will cost a fortune and will not provide the sort of standards of privacy that many of the street dwellers are looking for.
Instead of spending all these hundreds of millions to house a few hundred homeless in wards where there is no privacy, it would be much better if the same sum is spent to convert the old and disused New Amsterdam Hospital into a home for the destitute.
Instead of building a new structure, the monies that are to be allocated for this purpose can be used to build small self-contained rooms for the homeless within the old New Amsterdam Hospital. It is quite possible – given the size of that building – for about one hundred rooms to be built and still have space for other common facilities such as dining areas and recreational rooms.
At the same time, an old historic building would be saved from falling into further disrepair. It would be much better for the building to be used as a hospice for the homeless rather than to be left to be devoured by wood ants and vagrants.

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TIME TO ROLL OUT THE CARING CARAVAN

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