Poverty porn and the problem with CEOs playing homeless

In less than a month, some of South Africa’s richest CEOs will sleep on the streets for the 702 Sun International SleepOut. The event aims to raise money for homeless people, but unfortunately, the CEOs seemed to have missed the memo on what it actually means to be homeless, writes RA’EESA PATHER.

The SleepOut is marketed as an “inaugural event”, an opportunity to “rise to the challenge” and “spend a night under the stars”. But homelessness is not an event and the millions who sleep on the street might not share this romanticised idea of life on the streets in the cold of winter.

Homelessness affects the health and well-being of millions of South Africans. Every year, dozens of South Africans die of exposure or in fires caused when braziers used for warmth topple over. A study in June 2010 reported that 50% of homeless people suffer from mental illnesses.

The 702 Sun International SleepOut, which follows hot on the heels of a global SleepOut campaign, will raise funds for Girls & Boys Town – a non-profit that cares for underprivileged children and families.  Yet, as the CEOs prepare to take to the streets armed with sleeping bags and blankets for one night on 18 June, many South Africans won’t even have the option of a blanket to keep warm through the winter.

“When I die and go to heaven, God will know what situation turned me to be corrupt sometimes,” Trevor Gertz told the Mail & Guardian in a 2014 article on homelessness. “It’s not easy for me because I’m a hobo, so I cannot go to a person who is not a hobo and say, ‘Sorry, can you help me? I’m hungry.’”

Sleeping on a well-lit sidewalk in Sandton, surrounded by friends and cameras, with the knowledge that you can return to your warm bed tomorrow is nothing like sleeping under a dark bridge not knowing if tonight is the night a stranger will steal everything you own, assault you, or call the police to kick you off the kerb. This publicity stunt simply doesn’t sit well.

The SleepOut has raised more than R10-million and so it could well help those who need it, but being charitable should be done with respect for the dignity of those who live harsh realities.

The voyeurism of initiatives like the SleepOut may do more to laud people “using their influence to change the lives” of street children than it might to actually engage with the children and families who they are talking about.

What comes to mind is, of course, poverty porn. If you’re not familiar with the term, World Relief’s Emily Roenigk, neatly sums up what poverty porn is and why it’s a problem. For one thing, it depicts poverty as “merely the observable suffering resulting from a simple lack of material resources”, while failing to tackle the systems that have created poverty; for another, it promotes charity and not activism.

“Sustainable change in poor communities is more than the sum of its financial donations,” Roenigk writes.

How many of the CEOs will rally for the systemic change needed to create jobs and housing opportunities, rather than writing a fat check after taking advantage of the marketing and networking opportunities that this event will bring?

– Featured image by Niko Knigge via Flickr.