U-turn was started by Colleen Lewis in 1997 when she felt a burden to make a difference towards the poor within her community. Colleen began talking to homeless people, finding out why they were on the street and what their needs were. She soon realised that many of these people were victims of their circumstances and not simply lazy alcoholics.

Colleen started feeding them in a group on Friday mornings in her garden and teaching them what God thought about them. With the numbers of the folks increasing, and complaints from her neighbours, these meals moved to St Stephens Church. The ministry has been an official ministry of St Stephens ever since. The majority of our regular volunteers come from St Stephens church and our administrative office is located at the church. Since December 2006 U-turn also receives financial support from the Church of England in South Africa (CESA) for which we are very grateful.

In March 2004 the work took a big step forward when, with the help of the Claremont Improvement District Company (CIDC), a warehouse was hired from the City of Cape Town. U-turn developed the building into a centre that has accommodation for staff and male residents on the first floor with skills training workshops on the ground floor. The CIDC has remained a faithful supporter of U-turn ever since. Over the years the staff team has also grown from the one full time and one part time to the current 1 part time and 10 full time staff.

In the 3rd quarter of 2007 the City of Cape Town served U-Turn notice that we need to vacate the building in order to make way for the Claremont Boulevard. A Few months later another nearby building in Claremont was offered and at present we’re still working to render the building fit for operations. Accommodation will also be provided in a small building on Lansdowne Road. Our ultimate desire is that we acquire buildings which we can then systematically develop into the centres that would be most suitable for homeless rehabilitation.

Scrap metal of all kinds can be used!