The Times They are A-Changin'

In recent weeks, things at Itipini have shifted in a big way. In late January/early February, there was a string of break-ins and violent assaults going on at Itipini at night. The rumor was that it was a group of young men from across the river in Maiden Farm, but we never found out exactly who the culprits were.  It was a really terrible situation where people (mostly women) were being beaten up by whoever these thugs were and all of their money or things of value were taken from their houses. All of the Project buildings were broken into as well. Because of this surge of malicious crime, A LOT of people moved away. For weeks, it seemed like every day we would just count another round of shacks that were being torn down and the clinic and preschool seemed almost desolate. We got the police involved and, though little happened in the way of finding the perpetrators (people were really reluctant to talk for fear of retribution), it got their attention. Itipini is often written off by people as just a place in town where only criminals live, but when the police came down and saw the Project and all of the things going on there, their attitudes changed a bit.  And it was enough change that it sparked a sort of chain reaction. They connected us to a city Counselor so that we could set up a committee of people who would act as the sort of “collective head-men” of Itipini. When the Counselor first arrived, she looked terrified and said (and this is a direct quote), “I am scared of this place.” By the time she left that day and had seen all of the good things going on at Itipini (the garden, wood workshop, craft workshop, and tutoring, etc.), her attitude had also changed.  She connected us with another person who connected us with someone else and so on to land us at the point we are at now. Right now, we have had several rounds of people come down to help people fill out housing applications to get into government housing (and out of shacks/off of a dump). For those that don’t have IDs, we have been working through the processes of getting them ones so that they can apply for government housing and grants. We have a SOCIAL WORKER that is coming out to Itipini TWICE A WEEK. [THIS is amazing. From about October onward, I have watched Jenny have a weekly phone battle trying to get a social worker to attend to this particular family who don’t have any parents and either getting ignored or getting the run around every time. Now we have a wonderful woman named Asanda that is coming EVERY Monday and Thursday!] She is really helping to get all of these housing forms, IDs, grants, special food parcels, and other services allotted to the people of Itipini. 

What is the bottom line in all of this? The people at Itipini are finally being recognized by their government. Within the course of three months, Itipini is all of a sudden on the map with city officials in the Municipality Office and Home Affairs office. People are actually talking about this place seriously and taking real steps to getting something done for, in my understanding, the very first time. It has been incredible to be a witness to this change and the start of a process that will hopefully drastically improve the lives of these people. I just hope that the momentum keeps going as it is now. It would be a real shame if it all lost steam in the middle. But that’s the trick, isn’t it? It’s not the starting of things that is difficult, but the sustaining of those things.  I guess the secret is just to keep trucking and see where this whole process takes us!