Africa-Press – Cape verde. Established in 2017, to ensure a hot meal for the homeless, the social project “Anjos da Noite” branched out in 2019 into “Casa Abrigo” and today hosts an average of 30/45 homeless drug addicts every month. , focused on reintegration.
Developed by the Municipal Council of Praia, to support homeless people in the capital, the social project “Anjos da Noite” has been guaranteeing a proximity response to the homeless, in various parts of the City of Praia, through distribution of hot meals, supported by technical psychosocial intervention work, through a partnership with Associação A Ponte and the municipality.
It was also designed to help homeless people change their lives, help them recover family ties, work on prevention and risk reduction by distributing condoms, supporting them in taking prescription drugs and even providing small bandages.
In its first phase of implementation, the project involved 28 homeless people, of which 25 men and three women identified in the localities of Fazenda, Sucupira and Plateau, the majority of whom were mentally ill and people dependent on psychoactive substances.
The hot meal, which associated with hygiene services currently costs around 80,000$00 per month, was initially entirely distributed in these well-identified points, but with the creation of the Casa do Shelter Municipal, better conditions were created for users to eat, even though some with mental disorders insist on being helped in their place.
Praça Alexandre de Albuquerque, Pracinha da Escola Grande, Encosta dos Cruzeiros, (all from Plateau), Porto da Praia, Várzea, Achada de Santo António, Palmarejo, Fazenda are the places where the Night Angels travel to feed the homeless with disruptions, and it is true that the neighborhood of Ponta d’Água, where there were two identified cases, is no longer on the list as the patients have now been placed in the Casa do Shelter.
The diet, as revealed to Inforpress by the director of Psychosocial Management and Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration services, Swelly Carvalho, is prescribed by the nutritionist at the Praia Health Department, who, like the Praia Psychiatry Services and health centers, provide support for projects, in cases identified in mental disorders, both in terms of medication and follow-up control.
Initially composed of a nurse, a psychologist and a social educator, Anjos da Noite, according to Carvalho, is here to stay, and the Reception Center, built in 2019, continues the initiative and both structures work in simultaneously.
Casa do Abrigo provides an adequate space, where users can stay overnight and receive hygiene, food, self-help and counseling services, as the multidisciplinary support team currently has volunteers from psychology and nursing.
According to studies carried out, the majority of users are drug and alcohol users/consumers, which leads the project to work on the rehabilitation component, alongside health services.
On average, the two projects work in parallel with 40 to 45 people, regularly 30 people per month at Casa do Abrigo.
The multidisciplinary team currently consists of a psychology student, a specialist trained in criminology, nurses and psychologists from the University of Cape Verde and permanent volunteers, but is increasing, with the implementation of a supporting project, the Psychosocial Care Center, that will work during the day.
Considering that within the framework of its plan to combat social exclusion, the project already has success stories of homeless people recovering and returning to their families, Suely Carvalho said that this is rewarding work, especially when shelters with guidance are able to overcome dependency.
This is the case of young Jedilson Barreto, from Várzea da Companhia, who said he was inspired by the story of the “happer” and social activist Gá da Lomba to change himself and find other ways to abandon the world of drug consumption, which led him to a six-month hospitalization at the Granja de São Filipe Therapeutic Community.
He recognizes that during this recovery process he had some relapses, but that today he feels “fulfilled and completely recovered”, after 10 years of drug use, divided into seven years of cocaine and three years of crack cocaine. Today he uses Casa do Shelter as an example of those who still live in this world of drug addiction.
He stated that he always wanted to make his contribution to this type of project, as he constantly works in the area of drug addiction and that today he feels privileged in the recovery of people who lived on the margins.
An opinion corroborated by Paulino Tavares, who admits himself as a former drug addict, stating that he has been away from the world of drugs and alcohol for four years, after more than 20 years of consumption that led him to live on rubbish and become homeless, which is why he was grateful to Anjos da Noite and Casa do Abrigo for his “rebirth”.
Two success stories referenced by technician António Horta, therapeutic counselor in rehabilitation and health centers specializing in the treatment of drug addicts and who has been part of the project as a volunteer since its creation.
The president of Praia City Council, Francisco Carvalho, welcomed the collaborators of the two projects in the recovery of young people, through “a manifestation of love, supported by foundations”, noting that from the City Council’s budget the cultivation of love for others, most in need, becomes extraordinary, in a society “marked by lack of love”.
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