A story of hope
If you saw Martin Coetsee six months ago, you would probably either have walked right past him or shooed him away.
Martin has had a tough life. He’s spent 13 years living on the streets of Durban, eating out of rubbish bins, begging for money and food and addicted to heroin.
Martin’s mother left him, his siblings and their father when he was still very young.
Addicted to alcohol, she abandoned her children for a life of partying.
His father, unable to cope, let their children into foster care. And so began a downward spiral of juvenile delinquency, multiple prison sentences, homelessness and a dark addiction to heroin.
Then one day Martin happened to run into a real life Good Samaritan, Rory Armstrong, who could not get the image of Martin eating out of a dumpster out of his mind.
He tracked him down a few days after first running into him and championed to get him off the streets, cleaned up, into rehab and finally a place of safety.
Martin’s life has literally come full circle. He says he feels human again and has a new lease on life. And all because someone dared to stop and think about him.
This is a story of hope and triumph in the deepest of adversities!
Listen to the full interview with Martin Coetsee and Rory Armstrong below:
- Terence Pillay
(Photos: Supplied)