Saturday 9 July 2011

A death on the doorstep

I awoke with the constant sound of ring tones, unusual on a Saturday morning. Messages on my phone led me to realise things were not well at Desmond Tutu House. I spoke to a resident, and realised that a tragedy had occurred. A body had been found outside at 6.20am, and now a huge cordon was placed around the building.

I raced in as soon as I could, and the PCSO's let me under the police tape. They explained that someone had been found by the wall, in the car park to the 'Treehouse Cafe' annexe. he had been 'found in drink', and the circumstances were apparently not suspicious, with the assumption that it was natural causes.

The increasing number of street drinkers is depressing. Many are from Eastern Europe. They came looking for work, and found only despair and the downward spiral of alcoholism. It is a short, sharp and brutish life. This death is the fourth on our street in 4 years. Two murders and two alcoholics left for dead by their 'friends'.

Our church must find a way of offering some hope to these lost souls, we cannot ignore as Lazarus lies dead on the doorstep.

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