​"A shelter has taught me many things and how to deal with different characters," says Genene Beckon (59), a gender-based violence survivor and a mother of three based at SAVF Homeless Shelter.
Beckon, from Boksburg in Ekurhuleni, finds herself at the shelter after being harassed by her former employer. She used to work for an orphanage that was situated on a farm, and she was staying in a cottage.
"I was an administrator for an orphanage organization, and my employer was happy with my work; that's when he asked me to move into the cottage, but things changed when he started flirting with me, which I was not happy about since I knew his wife", she said.
"I was staying in a flat in Boksburg before moving to the cottage, and the orphanage is situated on the same farm where he was also staying with his wife and kids, but he will come and discuss work during the day with me, which I never complained about. Then later he would come at night knocking at my door, and when I asked him what he wanted, he could not say anything," says Beckon.
"I decided to tell his wife because I was no longer happy and I was living in fear, not safe, but still, he never stopped. His intention was to sleep with me because during the day he was acting very strange, and he even flirted with me, but I avoided him. This time he was throwing stones on my roof, and he thought I was going to open the door for him, and that's when I decided to call the police," she says.
The employer was arrested, and Beckon was told to move to the shelter because she was now living in danger.
She says the shelter is like her second home, and there are other women who have been through a lot, but with the help of counselling, they were able to recover very quickly.
Beckon is now in the process of starting her own rehabilitation centre and shelter, where she will assist addicted person because there are a lot of women who are into drugs but in denial. "I want to help women because they are scared to come out, especially the married ones," she says.