Cape Town - The first ever mobile shower, called Nina Manzi (Mother of Water), in partnership with U-turn Homeless Ministries, Viva con Agua South Africa and Baz-Art will help the homeless community take care of their basic hygiene.
A person who is sleeping rough on the streets will now be able to have a hot shower through a Mi-change voucher that a member of the public gives them, or that they earned through activities at the U-turn service centre.
Nina Manzi is currently stationed in Claremont, and will soon be going to Muizenberg and Mitchells Plain.
Project manager Sisanda Henda said the idea came as a result of a research project conducted last year in which homeless people were asked about the conditions they lived under, as well as the challenges they faced.
Henda said that at the top was a lack of access to clean water and an inability to practise basic hygiene.
Henda said the trailer had four showers and toilets, and could be attached to a water outlet system, and had a wastewater pipe for getting rid of used water. It also heats up water using gas, so that Nina Manzi users get a hot shower, she said.
“With Nina Manzi, the shame and scorn that homeless people have are decreased because now they can present themselves to the world in a more dignified way. Homelessness is a complex issue that needs an integrated intervention. We are happy to be part of a journey that can take many years to overcome.
“Shower by shower we aim to heal people enough to have the courage to dream again. Nina Manzi is the first wash facility for homeless people going mobile, and the first to address homeless people based outside in the CBD,” she said.
Henda said the use of vouchers was to instil a culture of working for what one received, to eliminate entitlement and build confidence in users.
U-turn said the wash bus created pathways out of homelessness. The organisation said two workers who went through its programme were now employed to clean the showers.
“The clients receive toiletries and other essentials before they shower. They are given 15 minutes. As the warmth of the shower touches them, dignity is restored,” it said.