A Wynberg church and the local Community Action Network (CAN) are pleading with local government – and anyone in the private industry who is prepared to help – to establish an addiction recovery programme, accessible to all in their community.
Even before covid, people with addiction were known to seek out the Wynberg CBD, with heroin as the drug of choice. A research study (“Experiences of coloured heroin users in Metro South area of Cape Town: A social work perspective”, Dominique Caswell, 2018) found that the requirement for funds to purchase heroin was one of the key reasons for the escalating numbers of heroin users congregating in the Wynberg area.
Caswell, a social work masters student at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), wrote that, according to the study’s findings, Wynberg not only had a continuously available supply of the substance, but also seemingly endless opportunities for heroin users to fund the habit.
“Participants in this study often referred to the need to obtain funds as an ‘easy task’ given the number of shops, commuters and informal employment opportunities, which allowed them to buy and use heroin,” she wrote.
Having been of service to the Wynberg community for many years, Reverend Graham Goodwin of Church Street Methodist can attest to the great need that there exists for a drug rehabilitation centre in the area. The church, together with Wynberg Community Action Network (CAN), has been doing outreach work among street people in Wynberg, especially since the pandemic struck in 2020.
Nancy Krisch, the administrator of Wynberg CAN, says according to the information available to them, there are currently about 125 men and 90 women living on the streets in Wynberg.
Goodwin says while Wynberg is a central point for the drug trade, it is a dead space in terms of intervention.
“And it almost seems like it is a very siloed reality. Just down the road in Kenilworth you have private drug rehabilitation facilities. There are a number of private facilities but, obviously, they are inaccessible to the average addict living in Wynberg.”
The nearest public programme (the City of Cape Town’s Matrix Programme) is located in Parkwood Estate – that is roughly 5,2 km away.
For example, Goodwin says, if someone comes to the church’s community kitchen and realise they are addicted and want help, the church has to refer them to Parkwood.
“It is quite a walk and we can’t give them money. If we give them R25 for the taxi they won’t make it past the Wynberg PTI.”
Heroin addiction is also infamous for being difficult to treat.
The drug doesn’t respond easily to outpatient rehabilitation.
Goodwin says to detox, you have to wait for a bed in Stikland Hospital or one of the other state hospitals.
“Those take time, because you go on a waiting list, there is a referral process. So already you have to go to Parkwood, you have to go for a few sessions, then they will assess you and see if they can send you to Stikland. The waiting time is problematic.”
The reverend says they have realised that all of the church’s other outreach initiatives are dependent on dealing with addiction first.
Krisch admits that this is a concept that they too have struggled with. She says, on the one hand, they want to feed those in need but on the other they have to accept that addiction creates a different reality.
“We have had to rethink how we were going to do that. The CAN has worked in conjunction with the church and last year, all year, it was a three-day-a-week soup kitchen, but then when the festive season came about it became clear that once the food was gone, so were the people.”
In March, the church and CAN again started up their community kitchen aptly called Soul Kombuis. Goodwin says they have reconfigured their approach to invite more ownership and participation from those who come for a meal.
“We want to create a greater sense of community. As a community, we agreed that every time we come together, we are going to contribute R5. Not paying for the meal but as a way of collecting money together so that when it comes to winter, the group will have a kitty of money to buy what they need, for example, blankets. They also need to commit to support one another so that if someone does decide to take the next step, they will be supported by the others.”
Krisch says their goal is that Soul Kombuis becomes known as a place where people who are prepared to take the next step can go.
“That the word will get out on the street, that this is for people who are now ready to actually help themselves,” says Krisch.
Goodwin adds that in an ideal world, they would have loved to run their own programme at the church.
“We just don’t have the staff to do it. There are only about four of us who are involved in the community kitchen, and that on a voluntary basis. So we have always said as a church we will make our space available. Just bring a programme into Wynberg, we can offer the space.”
