19/05/2021
❤️OVERVIEW OF THE HOWICK WHOONGA PROJECT COLLABORATIVE MEETING - THURSDAY 13/05/21 ❤️
Announcing the Howick Whoonga Project's primary goal and mission - TO BRING IN SERVICES TO HOWICK.
In other words we need a full time branch of SANCA in Howick. I'd love a full time branch of FAMSA too (family and marriage South Africa) if we can swing it. It's imperative we have ongoing and established social and addiction services in our growing town. I can't, however, do this advocacy alone - I need help Howick. Here is an overview of where I am at with it all:
The Howick Whoonga Project (HWP) formed in March 2020 during the worst of lockdown in the pandemic. Judy Bell called me to propose taking on this demographic as the need was evolving and expanding rapidly. The lack of social services in Howick was highlighted beyond our imagining during this time and we saw restrictions to feeding our starving and rough living populations.
Rob Askew (retired decorated cop and former LOVE Howick Co-director) fought tooth and nail to get food and aid to our Howick homeless and was met with enormous resistance. A contentious feeding event at the Howick West Stadium saw Howick Whoonga Project start a collaborative journey with Hunger Busters. JAG (crime prevention, justice and advocacy group) was also formulated at this time and a 3 way partnership began to form.
It became evident early on that this social crisis would require a multi disciplined and collaborative approach. In other words - it's too big for one person or even one organization or agency. The homelessness and drug addiction has gone beyond crisis point in Howick.
Whoonga is a drug that is predominantly black tar heroine. It is mixed with things like soap powder and rat poisen and is very cheap and accessible to purchase. You can also get hooked after one hit. The stomach cramps, physical distress and pain from withdrawals can be deadly. Many have reached rock bottom and have no where to turn. There is NO SUPPORT AND THERE ARE NO SERVICES IN HOWICK. The closest option is SANCA in pmb and they are swamped with a massive support area and demographic.
Originally I had hoped to bring in my own service with a team of volunteers. I called this the pilot program. We selected 8 participants deemed ready for support and motivated to participate. John Fourie and Rob Askew joined me on a leadership team and I formulated a mental health team with over 10 professionals of different roles and skills. On paper it looked good as a treatment plan, in reality it proved to be mission impossible.
Barriers started to show themselves. The biggest being the transient and unpredictable nature of our homeless demographic. Circumstances evolved more quickly than I could keep up with. Our participants were too unstable and their lives too chaotic and full of risk. Without stability and safety, we cannot work on healing trauma. Catch 22, we needed to face the fact that we ideally need a shelter or space to rehabilitate these addicts.
Barriers we've identified include but are not limited to:
🔸Addicts work as car guards, car/taxi washers, recyclers and beggars etc. They can't leave their posts during the day or they will lose the post to someone else. They also can't afford not to earn.
🔸Violence is a way of life and many of our homeless end up in hospital or badly injured from being the targets of just about everyone.
🔸There are no public facilities such as toilets or showers or even water fountains or taps to get clean water. Our homeless smell really bad and most have lost all dignity and pride in themselves. This makes it hard to integrate them into any respectable community space or area, including churches and NPO's. Finding a premises or space to base ourselves has become impossible as no one wants this demographic anywhere near them.
🔸In order to utilize our partnership with SANCA and have their clinic nurse come to Howick once a week etc, we need a premises or space to operate from.
🔸Drug lords are intricately woven and powerful members of the community, they do not want any upset to the status quo. Whoonga (Nyaope) is big business in South Africa. It serves many people to keep these homeless guys addicted and this makes the work risky for anyone on the ground and involved. It is also very tough on the soul to witness so much hardship. This makes it hard to get active volunteers.
🔸Many people have a lot to say but very few want to get their hands dirty. It is disheartening to try and do this work when you can't rally troops. For the most part, I am a one woman army and I don't have the capacity to continue in this way. This is also something I do on the side in a volunteer capacity, my paid work has to be a priority. Realistically we need something established and professionals such as social workers and addiction counselors need to be paid.
Mentioning a few of the barriers, you can see why nothing is able to get off the ground outside of once off events, behind the scenes advocacy and interactions with addicts whilst going out for food distributions with Hunger Busters. I have had to restructure my thinking and I've come to one solution and mission for HWP:
BRING IN SERVICES FOR ADDICTS TO HOWICK.
We need a SANCA in Howick. Not only staff from pmb SANCA coming once a week (that's a good interim plan) but a full branch with paid staff and a premises. We have many derilect municiple buildings to utilize and ideally we could get FAMSA to join the mix too, bringing family support to Howick simultaneously. FAMSA come through once or twice a week but are based in pmb. Howick is expanding and our homeless and disadvantaged populations are vast.
Instead of trying to create these services via HWP, we are going to change the mission and advocate for Howick to receive their own addiction service. One that is already brilliant, well established and attached to the Department of Health. What we need is to collaborate in this advocacy. I'd like every person working with or alongside this social crisis to join forces with me to make this happen. I'd like to drive this through the DSD if possible with NPO, private and community support.
Whoonga addiction impacts us all and the problem will become more dire if we don't create sustainable solutions that aim to both manage the crisis and prevent it happening in the first place. Until the crisis is managed, we can't work on early intervention and prevention. The very best way HWP can assist our town is to fight for the services we need to help our addicts. SANCA is not just for homeless and rough living people, it is there for all addicts who can't afford help. We need SANCA to expand.
I am going to need some help to make this happen and I'm calling anyone who can assist. Collaboration is key - I can drive this but I can't do it alone. Together we are strong Howick, let's get this done!
Thank you so much to all those who attended last night and inspired my thinking even further. We have a lot of heart and passion in this town and we need sustainable solutions to get behind. Collaboration and unity is the only way I can see a light at the end of this dark tunnel.
Sending out love, gratitude and hope. We are a mighty town if we tap into our abundance of resources in this passionate community. It's time to drive some much needed change. We need services for our people.
As the mission takes a new turn, I would like to acknowledge my leadership team, Rob Askew and John Fourie. These two men have mentored and guided me through this journey and I couldn't have done it without them. As we are no longer providing the services, the leadership team is adapting to advisory panel and the 3 way partnership between Hunger Busters, JAG and HWP has been adapted accordingly. We work as allies.
Lots of love and a hearty hug,
Paula Taylor - HWP coordinator.
0791233790
