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The Haven Night Shelter

Contacts made and experience gained with Daily Bread led to the formation of the Haven

Night Shelter in Kalk Bay, largely due to the energy of Philip Greathead, Alison Just and
Peggy Moyle. Its success had been guaranteed by the calibre of the wardens, Marlin and

Lynn van der Westhuizen. They are enabling the people who stay there to have a respect for
themselves, and, speaking for myself, I find it invaluable to have a resource in the village of

this sort where people can be cared for by those who know what they are doing. Since they

have been able to sleep in the Night Shelter people have been coming to church who would
never have come before. That is important for it indicates that people have reclaimed their

self-respect.

Crossroads

On June 9 1986 my wife and I were celebrating her birthday, and we had gone for a walk on

Kalk Bay mountain. When we came down we were met by a group from the local branch of
the Black Sash. They told us that there had been a disaster at Crossroads with many houses

being burnt down, and they had arranged for women and children to be accommodated in our

Hall. Within a very short time over a 100 women and children had arrived. In those days we
knew nothing about trauma counselling. It was certainly needed and the shock may well have

accounted for some of the difficulties we experienced. The infrastructure which already
existed in providing meals for Daily Bread was useful in providing the first meals for all

these people. The availability of Janet Sandell to communicate in isiXhosa was an invaluable
resource.

The community responded magnificently with clothes, food and assistance, but there were
also some very horrible phone-calls to deal with. The experience became more difficult as

time went on. The Rector was summoned to appear in the Simon’s Town Court to answer a

charge that “he wrongfully and unlawfully did accommodate a number of black females and
children without a licence”, or pay an Admission of Guilt fine of R300. The government

offered tents at Khayelitsha but not everyone wanted to go there.

Within Holy Trinity there was tension between those who wanted to comply with
government policy, and move the people quickly, and those who wanted to take into

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