/Former Homeless Man From Cape Town Found Christ, Now Flourishing – JOY! News

Former Homeless Man From Cape Town Found Christ, Now Flourishing – JOY! News

Written by: Jamey Gordon
Article source: www.netwerk24.com

There is hope for the homeless on the Helderberg’s streets.

This is what a 44-year-old local’s story of admirable perseverance and strength is testament to.

The story of Dirk Cornelius Swart tells of his humbling battle with homelessness, remarkable restoration and reformation through divine power and heart warming reconciliation with family.

Swart landed on the streets after imprisonment following numerous run-ins with the law, but with a helping hand has survived the hardships and successfully been reintegrated into the community.

He now resides in Chris Nissen Park and earns a living doing odd jobs in and around the basin.

The Standerton, Mpumalanga native’s way to success has been paved with many failures, difficulties and setbacks.

Swart’s story starts with his relocation to Cape Town in 1994 after his father died and losing all family ties when joining the Constantia School for Boys. He was imprisoned from 1997 until 2002, and again from November 2011 to May 2012, and a third time in November 2012.

Returning to nothing following his release exactly a year later (November 2013) saw him land on the streets, which he wandered for about four years.

“The hardest part of being homeless was staying alive and out of trouble, and finding shelter with the little one had,” he recalled. Swart proudly said he never resorted to begging and would rather try and work for money.

He recalled gaining a renewed positivity and actually taking the helping hands offered to him in August 2015, especially those of Lenora Tregallas.

The local, who has dedicated herself as a volunteer at Thomas House of Hope for the past eight years and attends Busy Corner Street Church every Sunday, in a letter to DistrictMail, said she first met Swart as a homeless man in his 30s sleeping on the streets, but working for one of the traders during the day one Sunday morning.

“I invited him to come with me to my church, where he was welcomed and began coming with me on a regular basis each Sunday after Busy Corner church and feed,” she wrote.

“I began discipling him and walked the walk with him, and very soon afterwards he became a Christian and was baptised.

“He was then adopted into the church family and helped to find work and blessed with good clothing and shoes.

“Now, six years later, he was sponsored for a bus trip to Port Elizabeth by an elder in the church to be reconciled with his family, including a sister he had last seen when she was placed in an orphanage at the age of three months. This was a dream come true for him.”

Tregallas explained Swart and his siblings were separated and placed in various care situations.

He was five at the time and placed in foster homes and eventually the reformatory school in Cape Town. Tregallas said Swart previously gave a very moving testimony to the homeless men and women, who know him well and were on the streets with him in the past and attend every Sunday.

They were incredibly moved and inspired by his story of restoration by God from the street life and now reconciliation with his beloved sisters.

Swart boasted having a renewed gratitude for his life experience, which has moulded him into a better version of the person I am.

He highlighted accepting God as his Saviour and being baptised on 16 May 2016, following Tregallas’ invitation to accompany her to church.

“I live every day being appreciative of everything I have and not being judged by others for my past,” Swart said. “I believe now that everything happens in its own time, the right time, and if something good comes my way to simply thank God.”

Swart also expressed his endless gratitude to representatives of Thomas House of Hope, which seeks to empower the homeless to get off the streets and back to their families, as well as the Urban Voice church.

Date published: 30/04/2021
Feature image: Dirk and his youngest sister, Marie Doubelle. Thanks to the valued assistance of Gary Welch of the Urban Voice church, the pair were reunited on her 40th birthday in Port Elizabeth on 5 March. The meeting was the first since they were separated in 1981, when Dirk was a toddler and she merely months old.

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