The issue of homelessness, during one of Cape Town’s coldest winters in years, is a hot topic after a man without shelter died from exposure in Sea Point this week. It’s a subject that we should be talking more about as shelters are few and the plight has become an epidemic.
A director of the most well known shelter was recently quoted as saying that the aim is to send the homeless home. But home is often the reason these people left. On the other extreme, someone once told me about a monk who was quoted as saying that the poor are the duty of the fortunate. An arresting and generous concept. Either way, behind every pair of sad eyes you see at a traffic light, there is a story. Here is Richard’s, the qualified tailor.
Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Richard Abrahams (48) came to South Africa at the age of two, first living in Athlone and then Ottery. Richard lost his parents at an early age and began living on the streets at around eight years old. As a young teenager in the early 1980’s, he participated in boycott riots that resulted in South African police lives being lost and him living in prison for 27 years (and 9 months). In order to survive in prison, Richard had no choice but to climb the ranks of the prison gang system. He shows me two tiny tattoos along his hairline, ‘26’ and ‘27’.
Why no other tattoos? I ask. ‘I used wisdom’ he replies.
“I try to hide them, I try to take them out, but it’s a lot of money to do that,” he says.
He doesn’t want to boast, but in prison he was very important. High ranking. But today he is no one, with nothing. He’s ‘deleted’ the gang, he says. It doesn’t make him feel nice to talk about it. He’s not proud of that time.
Richard has been living ‘on the outside’ since 2007, sleeping at the shelter for R27 a night or on the street when has no money or doesn’t feel like company.
Richard describes himself as a ‘creative’ with a ‘good hand’.
“I’m a qualified tailor. I do clothing. I disassemble and repair sewing machines, cutting machines, over-locker machines, button-hole machines, and embroidery machines. I gave sewing courses in prison. I drew up the textiles. I became a facilitator, at last.”
You learnt all of this in prison?
Yes, in prison.
And how did you get your limp?
That was the fighting, in prison.
You don’t look like a fighter. You look so gentle.
I am gentle.
(Pauses.)
I was a Muslim. But I turned to Christianity.
Where, in prison?
Outside, there by the church. Hillsong.
What happened?
I was just swallowed (looks embarrassed).
Swallowed? By what?
By something. Something special just came and changed me. A big change. I can’t really explain.
What about crime now, on the outside?
No ways. It doesn’t pay.
We talk about crime in South Africa for a while, from a view I’m not used to hearing about.
It’s very easy to get money if I should go into that direction. But that’s not for me.
How do you keep yourself safe on the streets?
My kung fu methods. My karate (laughs).
(Judging by his limp and slight build, I get the feeling this part is a joke.We laugh together.)
Are they scared of you?
They all respect me. I’m the highest rank. I was the highest rank inside.
(Changes the subject.)
I left school when I was in standard 2, but I did matric three times in prison. I did NCR, then I did NTC1 and NTC5. And then I became a matric tutor inside, too. I don’t have my papers.
Where are they?
They stole them. Being on the road, they take the stuff.
I don’t know where to go, really. Many times I feel like a fake. A fake when I’m here at the robot.
Why?
Because I get money, but then sometimes I don’t go to the shelter because I don’t feel like I want to be among people, I just want to be alone. My best place is by UCT, up top.
Do you take drugs on the outside, here?
Marijuana. But no more. First, I used it to take away the pain, the memories and stuff. But otherwise I don’t use drugs for very long now.
What about alcohol?
No ways.
How come?
I was Muslim first, so I never touched alcohol. I won’t touch alcohol. I don’t want to express myself to people who know me out here in that way.
And if your life could change what would it look like?
It’s all I wish for in life – that change would come.
What would your life look like if it changed?
(Long pause)
Like yours.
Like mine?
A normal nice life. A place to stay. Work. I’m very creative but I have no back up and support. I’d like to do what I like to do. I like art. I like sewing machines, making clothes, and designing, all that I did in prison. I had 47 certificates of merit.
We speak about gangs for a while, how numbers work in gangs, rules about gangs and leaving gangs. It’s over my head, but Richard is unconcerned, he says he’s free, that it’s no problem. They would listen to him, if he saw them today. They would listen without hesitation, he says.
Do you mind if write a story about you? Can I write all this stuff?
Don’t make me bad.
I won’t make you bad.
I’m a good person.
I know you are. That’s why I’m here.
I miss the real life. The true life.
Where’s the real life?
(Richard talks about his longing for a wife and family in sad utterances that are not quotable in this format).
There’s a lot of things that go through my mind at night. But I know God has something special for me.
Do you have friends on the street?
I have one or two. I don’t really indulge. They not really my cup of tea (laughs). I discipline myself, they don’t care. I see to them where I can see to them. I give them too, even though I also need. I always go out there and look for one or two. Hey, how you guys, alright?
I steal their hearts.
You steal their hearts?
I motivate them with nice words. I try to encourage them with beautiful words and give them inspiration. That’s keeping me up. Otherwise I’m going to be down.
What happens when you die?
I don’t want to die, but I’m not scared of death. There’ll be resurrection. The final bill will be hell or paradise. It all depends on how you live. How you believe. You get different allegiances, different beliefs. I believe I’m on the right track now. Jesus Christ my savior. And Jesus loves me. He keeps me up. He keeps me strong. He lifts me up.
My heart is his house.
My only buddy.
Jesus Christ, my only buddy.
