From the editors of the book:

It’s Wednesday morning 11:00 am. We laugh as Tshaba acts out his unfortunate encounter with the local street barber when the electricity went off mid-haircut in Diepkloof. Then David recounts another narrow escape on the streets of Hillbrow and Madoda tells us about Cele, the night security guard who let him sleep in the boardroom when it was cold. Anthony arrives late and breathless to recount how he escaped an umashonisa (loan shark) who came to find him. These are the intimate, hard-hitting, funny and heartbreaking stories shared in the Homeless Writer’s Project. They are tales of living on the street, of finding family and friendship in unusual places, and coming to the city full of hope and promise only to be betrayed by the very people one trusted most.

Filmmaker Robbie Thorpe started the Homeless Writer’s Project in 2009, and  Harriet Perlman joined soon after. The project gives a voice to the voiceless by creating opportunities for stories to be developed into films and published media. It provides a space to share experiences, to shape, reframe and write them down. A space where, for a few hours each week, the grind of everyday living is put aside, stories are told and friendship is shared.

It was here that these stories were collected. Then the stories were crafted into a film called VAYA.

The questions remain: how do we shape and remake the city so that it provides a real home to all who come here in search of a better future? Our rights to the city are embedded in the Constitution, but rights have no meaning until you can claim them.