Candice Pillay.
She said making a living on the streets is the only life she's known since childhood.
Durban: Candice Pillay is a 28-year-old single mother of five.
She said making a living on the streets is the only life she's known since childhood.
Her family moved out of their Chatsworth home with her mother when she was only six months old. She said they were forced out to the streets as they had nowhere else to go.
Pillay lives at a shelter on South Beach with her mother and five children aged 10, 7, 6, 5 and 2.
She said her life with her children is a struggle as they live from hand to mouth.
They were forced to move out of the home they rented with her mother in Chatsworth as she could not afford it.
“My mother and I do not have a home. We rely on the shelter around here. We have to pay R100 per night for accommodation. So, with the little we are able to make, we must pay for accommodation, and if there is a little left, we are able to buy supper,” she explained.
Pillay is based at the South Beach promenade with three of her children.
She said they spend their time there hoping to make money for their accommodation for the night by either selling accessories or begging.
“We sell these accessories to people while explaining to them what we use the money for. Sometimes we make money, and sometimes we are forced to the streets when we do not make any money.” she said.
Pillay said they are able to get food from organisations that feed people living at the shelters nearby or at the promenade, which has become a haven for the homeless.
She worried about the safety of her kids when they did not have shelter for the night.
“Fortunately, we have not been victims of crime, but the things we see happening on these streets make us wonder when we will be next. I fear mostly for my daughters and just wish they had a stable home,” she said.
Pillay said her children attend Addington Primary School, which she is grateful for.
“We receive help from the school, like groceries, and it puts me at ease to know that my kids are given their right to education given our circumstances,” she said.
Pillay said the father of her children is absent from their lives.
“We ended things. I was not happy with him. I was still suffering with my kids even when he was in our lives, and yet he is employed,” she said.
She said she had reached out to him for maintenance, but she was unsuccessful as he resigned.
Pillay said her biggest wish is for her to have a permanent home and for her to find a job so she can maintain her family.
She said she battled to find a job as she does not have any qualifications. “I studied up to Grade 7. It is hard to get any kind of job. My skills are limited, but I would take any kind of job, just to be able to feed my family,” she said.
The Post