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Ryan “Brown” Dalton has now spent 5 days on the streets of Cape Town, here’s some of what he has to say today:

“Last night i had an interesting experience. Maanie came by the flower stand before we went to sleep. I have known Maanie the entire time i have lived here. I think he was around 10 or 11 when i first met him back in 2000. I really have a soft spot for him and have seen him go through many ups and downs. Right now it seems that he is very “up”, which is great for me to see! I don’t think he would mind me saying that he just got out of jail the day before yesterday. He had a couple of old cases that stood up against him so he had to spend a couple of months in jail. He said while he was in there he thought allot about his life, his child (who is one of the cutest babies in the world), and his future.

Maanie said all these years living on and off the streets, in and out of jail, he had always looked at other people to blame for his predicaments he continued to find himself in; his parents, the government, the NGO sector, Cape Town, this guy, that guy…everybody but himself. Now he says, though he sees the role that they all played in the things he has been through, he is currently in a place where he is “old enough” to take responsibility, stop looking for others to blame for his situation, and also look at himself, along with the choices and decisions he has made over all the years that have brought him to this place (even if he was not mature enough to make them at that time). He now takes responsibility for the “place” he is in, but more importantly, he is taking responsibility for his future…”

TO READ MORE OF RYAN’S EXPERIENCE ON THE STREETS CLICK HERE

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