Claudia Naude and her community have been working on getting Solomon off the streets and are so close; yesterday, she got to see his kindness towards his friend.
Johannesburg, South Africa (05 November 2020) – Claudia Naude shared Solomon’s story with her community, asking for help to find him accommodation after they got a large sponsor to get him off the streets. Solomon has moved people to tears because of his kindness without even realising it.
According to Claudia, Solomon once had a wonderful life; he worked in grocery stores as a cleaner, helped with stock takes and packing. When his contract ended, he struggled to find another job and before long, had lost his home, all his worldly possessions as well as his dignity.
Solomon moved onto the streets, begging to survive day to day. It has been a few years since he ended up on the streets and thanks to a few helping hands, he has been able to secure temporary work cleaning a factory. He has already worked one day, and the company have asked him to return.
“Solomon currently “lives” in a nearby open veld at night, exposed to the elements, exposed to danger and illness. Nowhere to safely store the items he occasionally gets given. Often having clothes and shoes that are donated to him stolen while he sleeps.
Today, through a loved one, Solomon was given the opportunity to work in a nearby factory cleaning & doing general labour for the day. And he’s been asked to go back again tomorrow! This is not a permanent job, but it’s two days of working to get paid and has given Solomon a reason to stand tall and feel valued.” – Claudia
Claudia spotted him on his usual corner and asked him if she could give him a lift to the factory. After a few minutes, Solomon agreed, but he had a few things he needed to do first.
Without even thinking about it, Solomon did something so kind it left Claudia in tears. His selfless act has now inspired the community, and hopefully, it will lead to him finally getting back on his feet.
“I found him on his regular street corner at Kelly & Ysterhout very early this morning already hard at work sweeping the road and tidying up his little “corner”. I gave him a few sandwiches to keep him going for the day and asked if I could drop him at the factory. He thought about it for a while and told me he needed to return the broom and spade he’s been allowed to use from the office park across the road before he could leave. He also told me he needed to let his friend Leonard (who also begs nearby) know where he was so that he didn’t worry when Solomon wasn’t at his usual corner. We quickly went to let Leonard know. Solomon had a brief talk with him & proceeded to give Leonard the R20 that he had just been given as well as half of the food I had prepared for him …
Humbled, I wiped my tears as I watched him share the very little he had.
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Due to some INCREDIBLY generous and kind people, I’m proud to call my friends – I’ve received a LARGE donation to help Solomon get off the streets and find his way in life again.
So – I now reach out to all you wonderfully, kind people in our community for help in finding safe accommodation for Solomon. A cheap, clean and secure room with electricity, water and ablutions that he can rent. I will use the donation to cover the rent for as long as possible. Depending on the cost, the donation should cover a pretty long time.
I have faith that with our help, he’ll be able to get cleaned up and find permanent employment close by.
Is there anyone who has a suitable room for Solomon to rent or can help point me in the direction of someone who can?
Please share with your network in this area so together we can help Solomon turn his life around.
PS: Solomon told me he loves reading! He says it keeps his mind busy and allows him to learn new things. So keep some books aside for when he has somewhere safe to keep some books in the future!
Watch this space, people – community kindness hard at work.”
If you can assist in any way, you can contact Claudia via the Boskruin & Bromhof Community Group here.
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