Ronald Thompson (Homeless Person)

Most homeless people don’t actually live on the streets, but found themselves living temporarily with friends or family, or staying in emergency shelters.

Ronald was born in 1975, in a town called Nigel on the East Rand, Johannesburg.

He went to school and after that started working. He worked at ABSA as a data capturer and with time, ending up working at companies like Mug & Bean (warehouse) to name a few.

His mother is dead and his father still stays somewhere in the East Rand (Ronald was one of nine children, five (5) boys and three (3) girls). Ronald has no money to visit his father.

He stays in one of the parks in Pretoria. By day he hides his belongings to go and collect recyclable items, like glass bottles, and then goes and sells them. This is his only income and if he does not sell the recyclable items, he has no money to buy food ending up going to sleep… hungry.

Winters are the worst for him or any other homeless person because they do not have houses to stay in. They have a blanket or two and a spot in one of the parks to sleep.

Food kitchens are available, but Ronald did not mention anything about them.