A woman who has been brutally attacked seeks assistance for safety. Severely traumatised, she is told she CANNOT access support services due to NOT meeting the GBV (Gender-Based-Violence) safety placement requirements of having an exit plan (a home to go to) after her time in a safe house. What is the exit plan when you are homeless and living on the streets?

This embodies the harsh reality of the challenges that we are faced with when trying to assist our clients when they seek help.

Support from institutions, including government, becomes virtually inaccessible to homeless people. This is why MANY street people have lost all faith and trust in the very structures that are there to help them.

Our fieldworker found herself faced with this challenge.

A young woman, whose boyfriend convinced her to leave the shelter, promising that he had accommodation for her, only to realise that the accommodation was in the mountains! Unable to return to the shelter, she found herself trapped in a violent situation, arriving at The Humanity Hub bruised and bleeding. Fearing for her life, having survived a traumatic experience – she asked for assistance with emergency placement at a safe place to help her get out of a relationship that turned violent.

Contacting the most obvious organisations yielded very little success for the client due to her not having an exit plan!

Our fieldworker, however, did not give up. She continued to make many calls throughout the morning, and eventually a safe place was found where the client now has access to the necessary support services that she needs – other women who found themselves in similar situations as her, and together they are working their way through the trauma and rebuilding themselves. Without our intervention, she would still be on the streets and facing ongoing violence.