Interview – Annette Cockburn, former Director of The Homestead
1. What motivated you to become involved with the Homestead ?
I spent all my life teaching privileged children and wanted a more grass roots experience.
2. How did you become involved with the Homestead?
I saw a position advertised for the post of Principal of the Homestead. They were looking for a “black male social worker who was a devoted Christian”. I was none of these, but I got the job.
3. What was your career before becoming Director of the Homestead?
Teaching from Grade 1 to post graduates.
4. How did you adapt to the change ?
I fell in love with The Homestead the minute I walked into the Shelter, and things followed from there.
5. What would you say was your most memorable experience when you worked at the Homestead?
The Children, always the children- so deprived yet so resilient. The other was growing the Homestead from a Shelter for 14 boys, to a multifaceted project for hundreds of homeless street children.
6. What is your hope for the future of The Homestead.
The best thing to happen would be for The Homestead and all its projects to close down because that would mean there were no more street children. I asked Kader Asmal to open the Drop In Centre, and he replied in his speech – “ I would rather be closing this than opening it.”
7. What were the major challenges that you faced while working for the Homestead?
Public opinion was our major obstacle. People tend to see street children as deviant misfits or pitiful waifs. They are neither- they are children. They are running away from miserable circumstances, but they are also running towards a better future.
8. How long did you work at The Homestead?
Twenty-five years.
9. If you were to do it all again, would you do anything different ?
Yes, I would try harder to replicate the project model in other parts of the country. Basically, I would try to expand the project. The Homesteads mission was, and remains, to help street children rebuild their shattered lives.