South Sudanese youth lead the way on addressing homelessness in their community

Young people in the city's South Sudanese community are helping homeless people this holiday season, addressing what they say is a growing problem in their community.

Volunteers have been getting together to pack essentials, including everything from feminine hygiene products and toothbrushes to naloxone kits and gift cards.

They say that as well as helping people directly, it also gets people in the community talking.

"We've noticed that a lot of members of our community are experiencing homelessness, and just seeing them out on the streets without any help is very heartbreaking," said Ariet Okuori, who is with the South Sudanese Youth of Canada.

"It's a huge problem in the South Sudanese community, which is what prompted us to do this. Community-based projects like this are so helpful and so meaningful," she said.

Okuori says the community is facing issues with housing, employment and drug use, making it hard to know where to start. Other volunteers say making and distributing gift baskets is a simple way to bring problems nobody wants to talk about to the surface.

"So it's a problem people are aware of in the community, but it's a very sensitive topic that a lot of people do not know how to address and go through, mainly because there's topics of mental health, drug abuse, PTSDso many factors that go into it," said Dedi Nyjong.

"Essentially I feel like it's educating ourselves as well and just bringing awareness of these situations, which can create the platform to discuss what's going on in the community."

The grouphanded out gift baskets downtown as the first of many events they have planned.