The City Council of Santa Cruz yesterday inaugurated a photographic exhibition on the occasion of the Day of the Homeless, which will take place next Thursday, November 25, to make visible the situation of vulnerability in which some people and families of the capital live. An exhibition that is located in the well-known Rambla de las Tinajas, near the García Sanabria Park, but that will be moving through other parts of the capital, and with which a long series of activities starts that will be developed until the month of January of the next year.
An appointment in which users of the Municipal Reception Center (CMA), protagonists of the exhibition, commented that this help from the City Council has changed their lives.
That is the case of María, who told DIARIO DE AVISOS that she has been to the shelter twice. In 2014, for two months, and now, it takes a year. However, next week he will abandon it and start a new stage. “I have managed to rent an apartment in the north of the island to be able to leave the hostel. Thank God, I didn’t see myself on the street, but having been in the center for years, they opened the doors for me again. I can’t say anything bad, neither about the workers, nor about the counselors. They are all beautiful people ”.
Another user of the hostel is José Luis. He is 60 years old. He lived on the street and came to the CMA with health problems. “I have been at the center for a year. When I arrived I weighed 60 kilos and now I am recovered. They have given me a lot of guidance and all the staff, from the director to the cleaning workers, are people with great hearts who are involved to make us feel good ”. Tears come to his eyes when he says that people without a family, like him, have a very hard time without a roof or no one to turn to. Their goal now is to get a job and keep moving forward to “reward everything they have done for me.”
The CMA cares for people of all ages, including Abraham, who at 19, and after having problems with his family and going through a reception center for young people, had to ask the City Council for help. “I am finding a lot of support and my intention is to move forward to rent a room. This is a new opportunity that life gives me and I have to take advantage of it however it is, ”he says. Leo, is another young man, 20 years old, who has been in the shelter for a month, where he arrived “after suffering a crisis in the hospital and not having the support of my family.” He says he is receiving “a lot of support from psychologists and pedagogues.”
All these users were able to speak with the mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, who pointed out that “Santa Cruz is the only municipality that has a center of this type, which attracts people from other municipalities, islands and even from the Peninsula.” He asked for “solidarity” to give a comprehensive response and, “a true exit to normality”, of the most vulnerable people who live on the street.
The councilor for Social Action, Rosario González, pointed out that the Town Hall does not seek to celebrate the Day of the Homeless, but rather “to vindicate, give a voice and put a face on these people.”
