Quentin Oberholster, 50, used to work in IT. He became homeless over a decade ago and now works as a carguard in Simon's Town, Cape Town.
What is your name, age and birthplace?
Okay, birthplace is Cape Town. My name is Quentin Kevin Oberholster and I'm 50 years old at present.
Can you tell me a bit about your life before you experienced homelessness and what a normal day looked like then?
I was an IT professional. It's going just before 2011. I was working as a product manager for Nashua, so normal day was dealing with the corporates, and doing what while leading teams, training people, normal lifestyle, kid, everything, till that'll change with Lyme disease. Pretty much normal. Ja, still got a good reputation with them.
What led you to where you are now and were there particular moments that changed the direction of your life?
Changing in my life happened actually through illness and also just a real bad woman that destroyed me with my kid. That's it. Which was difficult to deal with. Which was, ja, it demoralised me. At the same time as being sick. It was a bit too much.
What do you wish people understood better about being homeless?
That's a tough one to answer. Look, it's a difficult... Look, to be honest, a lot of homeless people are thieves and trying to make the best of it. A lot of them are drug addicts that land up in the street and are just trying to get money out of people to fuel their habits. I do use drugs now and again. I'm not one of those, so I understand why people do it. But it's a difficult one for people to understand. But just they need to understand some of us are good and we do actually care about you and we're not such bad people.
What helps you get through difficult days and where do you find strength or support?
Actually through people I've known for years, coming here, a little bit of laughter from the public. Ja connection. A lot of guys know me for years, and I'm just talking rubbish with them and we joke. Ja that pulls me up a lot. And obviously playing hockey. (laughs)
Create more job opportunities. There would be less homeless people. Simple as that.
If you could change one thing about how society responds to homelessness, what would it be?
I don't think you can change society's behaviour to the homeless. That's one thing people don't want to see. Create more job opportunities. There would be less homeless people. Simple as that. Society don't want to see the problems in life. It's just part of the natural way, but I think it there is better job opportunities and a better system. We don't want to be carried. We just want the right opportunities. And I think with more opportunities there wouldn't be so many homeless.
Where would you like to be now if you could?
On the Breede River, at Robertson, fishing (laughs).
