Thu, Sep 23, 2010 page2

• FEATURE: Charity groups doing their best to help the homeless

  • By Lee Hsin-yin / CNA, WITH STAFF WRITER
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  A 48-year-old man wearing an orange volunteer cap scrambles around a recreation center in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) at a Mid-Autumn Festival event, helping distribute mooncakes and pomelos to homeless people waiting in line.

  Although he looks happy and dedicated to the job, his contented demeanor masks deep-set anxiety. He himself became homeless early last month and is so uncertain about his future that he has yet to tell his only relative of his predicament.

  “My daughter still doesn’t know that I’m homeless,” says the man who calls himself “Jay,” too embarrassed by his status to reveal his real name.

  

  Three homeless men receive free haircuts on Saturday at a recreation center run by the Genesis Social Welfare Foundation in Taipei’s Wanhua district.

  PHOTO: CNA

  Jay, who was laid off from his hospital job and then lost his home and his savings through an addiction to video games, now survives on two meals a day provided by the Genesis Social Welfare Foundation, which organized last Saturday’s gathering.

  His plight reflects the stigma of homelessness in Taiwan, where it is relatively uncommon and largely ignored as a social phenomenon, and the difficulty nongovernmental organizations like the foundation have in reintroducing the homeless to society.

  Anny Wu, the foundation’s public relations director, says a major obstacle is actually getting the homeless to accept help because the shame they feel leads them to shy away from offers of assistance.

  That’s why the foundation tries to draw them out by offering daily services, such as haircuts or medical consultations, or holding events like the festival celebration at the Safe Harbor for the Homeless.

  More than 200 people attended the event for companionship and mooncakes, pomelos and other traditional Mid-Autumn Festival gifts prepared by the foundation, or simply for a pit stop.

  “I haven’t cut my hair in a month,” said 65-year-old Hung Kuo-hsing, who roams the streets of Sanchong, where he also relies on a Genesis Foundation service station for two meals a day.

  “I came today for the haircut so I could save NT$200,” Hung said.

  The challenge has only grown more severe for groups such as the foundation as Taiwan’s economy recovers from the global economic downturn of late 2008 and unemployment remains stubbornly high.

  Chen Chun-ku (陳俊谷), director of Safe Harbor for the Homeless in Wanhua, said Taiwan’s industrial exodus to China and an influx of Southeast Asian immigrants have taken away job opportunities for many of society’s most vulnerable groups — the elderly, the illiterate and the disabled.

  The Department of Social Affairs says 3,874 cases of homelessness were dealt with last year, about 25 percent higher than in 2007 and 2008, but lower than the peak seen in 2005, when more than 4,000 cases were handled.

  Tong Fu-chyuan (童富全), the head of the Division of Social Work at Taipei City’s Department of Social Welfare, puts the number of homeless in the city at between 500 and 600, based on monthly searches at night for people living on the street.

  However, Kathy Wu of the foundation said the figures underestimate the extent of the problem.

  “Many of the people we serve aren’t recognized as homeless because they might have some place to stay overnight,” she said. “But the fact is they are wandering around and are in dire poverty.”

  The foundation said it has delivered 483,241 units of service from January to last month, counting every time a person is given food, advice, a place to stay or attends one of its activities.

  No matter how pervasive the problem, helping the homeless find their way back into mainstream society remains a challenge for the foundation’s 3,000 volunteers.

  Anny Wu says those they help find jobs have trouble staying employed because opportunities arranged by the authorities don’t necessarily match each individual’s ability.

  At the same time, just getting people jobs is a major challenge because few businesses in today’s tough job market — which increasingly emphasizes knowledge-based skills — are willing to offer low-end positions, she says.

  Though 95 percent of the foundation’s revenue comes from public donations, Wu said the public needs to become more involved at a personal level to enhance the prospects of those who have nowhere to turn.

  “People usually have a bias against street people and see them as a crime threat,” she says. “But only if we give them a hand instead of leaving them desperate and turning to crime, are we dealing with the problem and removing the real threat.”
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