Hi Hannah Firstly I want to thank you for your thoughtful and interesting posts. I bear no grudge against your mom. I just wish she would direct her passion into the structures that have been built in Obs to help the homeless instead of going it alone.
Obsid works with closely with a number of organisations in Observatory - the Obs Network of Care, comprising of Obsid, the OCA, the Social Issues Forum, the City Council, and several other NGO's to try to help homeless people with precisely the kind of issues you mention below - mental illness, drug addiction, and so on. We contract two qualified Social workers in as necessary to help: for example, with Colin, who is well known in Obs. Our Field worker, Kenneth Roman, is on the streets day and night, getting to know the homeless and trying to work out how to help them. Every month he sends through a report - last month he helped 9 people get off the streets! Here are just two stories, direct quote from his report (with names withheld though): Case 1: Originally from Ottery in Cape Town, He had been a sergeant in the South African police force and in the force for 13 years. Things went downhill for him when he and his wife got divorced. He went on stress leave and did not return to work. He has stayed with family but when he didn’t have any money left he was asked to leave. He was on the streets for two weeks when I placed him at The Ark on the 01/09/2011. Case 2: Originally from the Northern Cape, She had come to Cape Town for job opportunities but had not found anything. She didn’t know anyone in Cape Town and had no choice but to sleep on the streets. She met other strollers and soon fell into a life of alcoholism. She returned home after her two children along with the father died in a car accident but could no longer get along with family because of her habit and decided to come back to Cape Town where she went back to the streets. She was informed by Observatory residents of how she could get hold of me. She had been on and off the streets for 11 years at the time when I placed her. I have placed her at The Haven Night Shelter Paarl on the 02/09/2011. These are heartbreaking stories, and I feel very grateful that we can employ someone like Kenneth. We really make a positive difference! On another issue, I want to emphasise that Vetus Schola does not beat up vagrants. Obsid does not authorise or mandate Vetus Schola to beat up anybody at all. If anyone has any evidence that any employee or contractor of Obsid is beating anybody up, please bring it to me. I will ensure that the event is properly investigated and I will ensure that if found guilty the perpetrator is immediately dismissed, and indeed will assist the victim to lay charges, if the victim so wishes. At Obsid we have zero tolerance to physical abuse. VS does have a mandate to enforce by laws and maintain order on the streets of Observatory, though, which they do strictly within the law. If they don't, again, please let me know. If there's evidence of wrongdoing, we will act. Regards Justin Chair: Obsid -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of H Schultz Sent: 20 October 2011 02:34 PM To: The Observatory Neighbourhood watch Subject: Re: FW: [obsnw] Re: Intriguing by line on the cover of Big Issue The Big Issue details our allegations of abuse against homeless people. The reporter went around (without being directed by anyone) and found a number of people who had claimed to be beaten up by Veta Schola. Why they were beaten up, I don't know. Obviously someone did not like the look of them (or thought they looked funny). I'm not an expert on crime prevention, far from it. I think the first step would be to follow the law in all policing efforts, and understand the law in which we operate.Secondly I propose that a clear set of statistics is kept and disseminated. So we know the nature of the beast. I have heard that there is currently a set of figures for crime, but I have not been able to access it. Then we need to look at the stats and see what the triggers for crime are. Then some kind of plan for dealing with them- eg do open windows attract crime? I think the really important thing is that everyone is informed of what the latest situation in Obs is and what they are supposed to do about it. A monthly pamphlet shouldn't be too much work? And everyone does need to know- one thing that most literature agrees on is that ending crime is a community effort. It is also important to keep abreast of what is happening outside the borders of Observatory- since much of the crime in the suburb is affected by factors outside the suburb (like drug use and hijacking gangs for example). The City of Cape and the Province are doing alot on broad scale policing, and it is very important that Observatory fits in with them. It is a sad reality that many of the Valkenberg Outpatient's on the street are victims of cracks in the system. There probably isn't a quick cure for that- but I know relocating them to Ceres where they can't get their meds or their grants is immoral. I would suggest that working with all the stakeholders (including Cape Mental Health, the DOH and the Department of Social Development) is probably the best. It is also very important that all interventions comply with the Mental Healthcare Act. I know this is a bit of a rambling post but I my main point is that a response needs to be evidence based. It is important that we are able to say this is what we're doing and why we're doing it and this is how successful it's been (in numbers). It is also important that the plan is flexible- that's the whole point of proper monitoring. If something happens, or if an aspect of it is pointed out to be unlawful, then OBSID has to be open to changing it. I would also like to point out that OBSID has not been transparent in terms of the security plan. My mother has been trying for more than a year to get the security brief to Veta Schola out of them. With that in hand we could see whether a) the intimidation of the homeless was a deliberate strategy or b) a set of transgressions by Security Guards. This is not an unreasonable request. So please don't think that we are advocates of lawlessness. Far from it. On Oct 20, 1:12 pm, "Walsh, Carys" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ok, I understand what you are saying - people shouldn't be beaten up for looking funny (I must say I don't know of anyone being beaten up for looking funny in Obs - but I might just be out of the loop). So how do you propose that crime in Obs is lowered, in order to make it the safe community we all want? > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of H Schultz > Sent: 20 October 2011 11:54 > To: The Observatory Neighbourhood watch > Subject: Re: FW: [obsnw] Re: Intriguing by line on the cover of Big Issue > > Carys no one is objecting to criminals being arrested. What we are > objecting to is the illegal policing methods being used. Beating up > vagrants is not ok. It is racist to target people because they are > poor and black. It is racist to "move people along" because you don't > like what they look like. Racist and wrong (and everyone of every race > is capable of being bigoted). All we are asking is for the law to be > applied. Equally. What is so threatening about that. As far as I > know, policing in NY did not involve illegal forced removal > > On Oct 20, 9:46 am, "Walsh, Carys" <[email protected]> wrote: > > I just want to say that I object to this - it has nothing to do with race - I don't care if the people roaming the streets are black, white, coloured, chinese, whatever (and as my father is black as night it would be quite difficult for me to be racist!) - what I do care about is the crime that comes with vagrants. Robbery, holding guns to people's heads, attacking people with guns or knives, breaking into people's houses in the middle of the night with the intent to hurt - causing harm to people in order to get money - that is what I have a problem with. And unfortunately, vagrants do bring an element of crime - it is a fact. I think everyone needs to get over the past and forget about race etc - rather look at the bigger picture, which is that crime is a big problem in Observatory. And if people believe it is wrong to arrest people, then maybe you need to take a look at the history of New York and how it managed to get rid of crime - zero tolerance. Which I believe is what Obs is trying to do. And as a single mother with 2 small children - I am more than happy with - I have already had someone inside my house at 1am with my children sleeping in their bedrooms. But as I understand it from you, and maybe I am wrong, I shouldn't be upset about that - I should have told the guy that it was ok, he can help himself to the small amount of things I have - maybe stab or rape one of my children - because if I get upset and want better protection in Obs, then I am actually taking away his human rights. What about my human rights? What about my children's human rights? Or because I work 12 hour days to make sure that my kids have a home, does that mean that that we aren't entitled to anything because we already have a house? > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of H Schultz > > Sent: 20 October 2011 09:23 > > To: The Observatory Neighbourhood watch > > Subject: Re: FW: [obsnw] Re: Intriguing by line on the cover of Big Issue > > > quick edit: abyss instead of abbess. Apologies > > > On Oct 19, 4:16 pm, H Schultz <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Hannah Schultz (daughter of Mrs. Schultz) here > > > My mother moved to Observatory in the 1980s because it was one of the > > > few places in Cape Town in which inter-racial partnerships could be > > > ok. You argue that Observatory has become better, but for us it has > > > not. This is because it is difficult to live in a place that > > > considers poor black people to be undesirable. > > > > I do not know why my mother's aims are so baffling to you. What my > > > mother wants is for the law to be applied equally. For Observatory to > > > be open, for the policing of the suburb to be legal (yes Vita Schola > > > arresting private citizens is illegal). She would like everyone of > > > every race and class to be able to move freely on the streets of Obs. > > > She spent her formative years fighting against forced removal; she > > > does not want to witness it in the street outside. As a tax-payer she > > > would like to hold the council accountable for the way in which her > > > money is spent. As a ratepayer she would like to be able to sit in > > > the parks. > > > > You do not like her. Fair enough. People with conservative views have > > > never liked her. And that has never stopped her before. You find her > > > abrasive. Perhaps she is a little. Don't you think that it's excusable > > > after 30 years of saying the same thing? Don't you think she has > > > earned the right to be a little short to people who deny the humanity > > > of others? > > > > As you find her motivations strange, I find yours strange. How can you > > > have so little compassion? How can you see people and be frightened of > > > them simply because they are poor and black? If you have evidence that > > > they have committed a crime, bring it to the police. But how can you > > > believe that it's ok to target people because they look funny or > > > because they are carrying poles? You would deny the destitute a > > > sandwich and a place to sit and eat it. You see people with nothing > > > and want to take that away. I do not understand how people who have > > > so much can deny those with nothing so little. > > > > And so it is clear that we will always have difficulty understanding > > > each other. You do not want to take the leap into the human rights > > > culture that we now enjoy. And none of us wish to travel into the dark > > > abbess of paranoia that you inhabit. All she is asking is that the > > > rule of law be respected in Observatory and that, as a tax-payer, she > > > has a council that is accountable to her. It is her hard-earned right > > > to do so and she will fight on. > > > Sincerely > > > Hannah Schultz > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en. > > > The information in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this e-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. 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