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Christmas comes early for Mpumalanga homeless

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Christmas has come early for the homeless in Mbombela. This as a pop-up store has been set up for the homeless, so they can pick all the clothes they want – this as World Street Store Day is celebrated.

A pop-up shop with a difference with clothes and shoes on offer  – all for homeless people.

Homeless Sifiso Themba says: “I am very happy. I didn’t expect to receive nice clothes like this. Now I have clothes and I am very happy.”

“Four years on the street already, I appreciate what the people are doing for us, you can see we don’t have any people here that support us. The forum that they have here they always say they don’t have clothes,” says another homeless, Danie Roddertze.

Homelessness doesn’t discriminate. But the homeless people are faced with more than not having a roof over their heads. They face with discrimination, abuse and mistreatment. But change is looming.

Street Store’s Lisa-Marie Gardner says: “Because we do outreach on weekends we know where they are and what they need. A lot of them don’t have any clothes, they don’t even have shelter, and they wear the same clothes the whole year by the time December comes their clothes are worn out and shoes. We we should help them during Christmas so they can start a new year on a good note.”

According to 2015 study, there are approximately 200 000 people living on the streets in South Africa.

It’s for initiatives such as this one to mitigate the scourge.

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