South Africans are planning to brave the streets, their backyards and balconies for one cold night. Here’s the heartwarming reason why!
Cape Town, South Africa (01 May 2025) — As temperatures begin to drop and the winter chill sets in, U-turn Homeless Ministries is calling for both empathy and action to help ease the plight of people experiencing homelessness in South Africa. The “A Night on the Streets” campaign is a way to connect people to the cause first-hand, all while raising funds to make a difference!
What is A Night on the Streets?
A bold national campaign, A Night on the Streets, is gearing up to raise R1 million. These funds are intended to support safe space accommodation linked to long-term solutions for homelessness.
Partnering with a well-known motor dealership, a group of 30 individuals (including the dealership’s staff, clients, U-turn board members and supporters, will all brave a bitingly cold Claremont Main Road for the night. However, they won’t be alone.
As part of the initiative, other South Africans are also set to participate by spending the night of Saturday, May 17, sleeping outside, on balconies, in gardens, on church grounds or school fields. In this way, people will sleep in solidarity with those living on the streets, understanding firsthand what it’s like.
“A Night on the Streets is a chance for ordinary South Africans to do something extraordinary” says U-turn CEO Jean-Ray Knighton Fitt. “By giving up the comfort of your bed for one night, you’ll be helping someone else take the first step toward lasting change.”
A National Call to Awareness
With over 30,000 homeless people in Cape Town and Johannesburg metros combined, U-turn’s goal is to dismantle common misconceptions, engage hearts and minds, and ultimately remind South Africans that homelessness is seldom a choice. Rather, it’s often the result of circumstances like trauma, addiction, poverty or systemic failure.
Its innovative rehabilitation programme includes the provision of basic needs, substance abuse recovery, life-skills training, work readiness, and long-term reintegration. U-turn helps hundreds of people transition from life on the streets to stability and employment—areas that the funds raised will go directly towards.
“By participating you will learn something about yourself and people experiencing homelessness that you cannot read in a textbook,” says Stephen Underwood, communications manager. “Your one night on the streets will contribute to more than 13,000 nights OFF the streets for 300 individuals next year.”
Participants can sign up individually or as part of a group, with schools, churches and companies all encouraged to host their own sleep-outs. You can find out more here or contact Stephen Underwood at stephen@homeless.org.za.
Sources: Stephen Underwood
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