"My dream is to help others out there because I know there is hope - I’m living proof,“ says Fiona Swartz, a former homeless woman and drug addict helped by the Streetscape Community Project in the city centre.
Fiona has started a BackaBuddy campaign to raise funds to pursue her dream of becoming a social auxiliary worker to help others who are in the position she once was.
“I realise there is hope. I was at a point in my life where I thought I was going to die an addict. You think, ‘This is probably it now.' I thought I was going to stay like this, die like this, but that didn’t happen.”
She had been living on the streets as a tik and mandrax addict for 10 years before joining the Streetscape Project five years ago. She hasn’t looked back since.
Fiona says she grew up in Westridge, Mitchell’s Plain, in a loving family, and was the youngest of four children. She worked as an administrator and later moved into a flat in Gardens as a young mother. It was then that she started experimenting with mandrax and tik.
“It was first twice a month, and once a week, then it becomes a daily thing. Before you know it, you're a full-blown addict, and I didn’t think I would ever get there, but I did.
"It took away my pain, my worries, everything. Then it became my comfort. I must be honest, drugs got me through many things. As bad as it is, it carried me through the hardest times - heartbreak, hardships, disappointment. That was my best friend.”
When she hit rock bottom, she left home and her four children behind, and landed up on the streets. Several attempts to get clean ended in relapse.
Her family never shunned her and other homeless people would let her know when her father or sisters had been around, but was too ashamed to face them, she says.
Living on the street is hard, but you get used to it, and you have to adapt if hope to survive, she says.
“There were times that I wouldn’t even want to walk down the street because I was feeling so down, and I looked so terrible that I didn’t want to face people.
“I would watch people scratch in the bins - and I thought I would never want to do that. I was so shy to be seen.”
Streetscape field workers would often speak to her and one day she decided to join the programme.
“When I first started, I worked at the Trafalgar food garden.”
Keeping her attendance record up to date helped her reduce her usage, she says.
She also moved into Streetscape’s first-phase house, in Chester Road, Woodstock, where she was given the responsibility of house mother. This helped her as she had to lead by example, she says.
“There were a few times I wanted to walk away, but I stuck it out. I knew I had to pick myself up.”
When she realised she wanted to stop using was when the hard work began, she says.
“It’s the cravings, the challenges. You even get dreams. You hear voices. I still sometimes struggle, but it's not as bad anymore, and I know what I have to do to handle it.”
Over the years, she applied for opportunities and responsibilities at Streetscape, including team leader, assistant supervisor and house coordinator, among others. She was also given the responsibility to screen clients for their eligibility for harm reduction programmes and also led outreach programmes that went into various neighbourhoods to encourage at-risk people to join the programmes.
"These people must be helped, no matter what it takes," she says. "There are people living on the streets with degrees - I met a lecturer who caught his wife cheating and he walked out. I need to help people, and I want to do it from now until the day I die.“
Streetscapes operations manager Andrew Tulloch says the programme works with homeless people who have been on the streets for five years or longer, giving them employment opportunities where they can be supported.
“Fiona has lots of roles in our programme. She came in as a client and now she’s a house coordinator and assists with drug-rehab programmes.
"She’s got such a powerful story and some of those who have been in her position want to give back. She communicates well with people who come to hear her story. I saw the potential. Her journey is nothing short of amazing.
“There is a lot of apprehension from those who join the programme, but they need to be reminded of their story and what they have overcome - drug addiction and hardship.
“If you can see how much you’ve done and what you’ve accomplished, that in itself is amazing and we need to get them to have this belief of themselves.”
Fiona now lives at the YMCA in Observatory and is trying to raise R35 000 through the BackaBuddy campaign for her certification and a laptop.
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