Which Way Out?

As a minister, I have tried to help many people recover from "rock bottom". Yet before one can get off the street and start to settle, there are some serious hurdles to overcome. They become priorities. Here are some:

• One needs ID, maybe a permit
• One needs to be contactable
• One needs a way to save
• One needs to neaten up

Each of these can be a major hurdle. For instance, the quest for a permit might get bogged down in negligent bureaucracy, or stopped by corruption; "contactable" would ordinarily mean a cell-phone, which costs, apart from a place to charge it; and to open a savings account one needs to meet various legal requirements. And then, there is a good chance that one will be robbed and sent back to square one. OBSERVATION: Zygmunt Bauman refers to "the walls ... the moats" which loom before the "vagabond" -- not to speak of the spiritual challenge. For urban Churches in particular, it is a priority to prevent congregants from hitting rock bottom.