Where to start? In the time between my last blog and this
one, much has happened. Almost 2 weeks ago, Jenny was invited to a meeting in
Ngangalizwe where she was essentially ambushed by police and angry Waterfall
residents. This group of residents demanded the clinic be closed and threatened
to come do harm to us if it weren’t (much like they did with the burning of the
shacks). The police present said not a word of objection. What choice did we
have? We stopped going to work for our own safety while trying to get some
answers from the municipality. They were in agreement with the Waterfall
residents that the Project should be closed, though with more logical reasons
and seemingly better judgment than the mob violence of the Waterfall group. The
municipality feared that things would escalate to an even more severe level and
that people would be hurt. As well, the Project still being there encouraged
people to come back and resettle on the dump. The final word was that we must
close. And so we have. The Itipini Community Project is gone. Last week, we
cleared out all of the buildings. All of our medical supplies and patient
records went to the Ngangalizwe clinic (a government clinic we worked very
closely with), our play equipment was broken down and taken to the Temba Lihle
children’s home (where they don’t have any play structures), and one of our
containers is going to the Themba hospice to use for a new kitchen. Everything
else has been put into storage for the time being and we’ll slowly start making
our way through it and selling it. For the past few days, our wood workshop men
and a few others have been dismantling the wooden buildings so that the timber,
doors, zinc, etc. can be sold or used. The place looks like a disaster zone today.
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| Inside the clinic |
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| Long view of the project |
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| Where the wood workshop and a playset for the kids used to be |
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| Inside the preschool |
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| The rainbow container. No awning, no bench, no people. |
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| No roof on the clinic |
In good news, new developments with the municipality have
been arising right and left in the last few weeks. They seem to all be small
victories to be sure, but they are victories nonetheless and they are steadily
getting us closer to housing for those that have been displaced. Jenny met with
the General Manager (which is like the vice-Mayor, essentially) two days ago
and he gave his apologies for the way that things had been handled by the
municipality up to this point. They are working diligently to get housing for
the people who are living at Rotary Hall, but are coming up against some
problems. There are two areas of government housing, Ilita and Zimbane, that
have houses built and available, but those already living in those communities
do not want the people from Itipini. When the municipality said they were going
to move people to Ilita, residents from Ilita marched at the municipal building
in protest. They marched because of this long stigma of people living at
Itipini as being the poorest of the poor, low-life, criminal people; a stigma
which was affirmed by the municipality when they bulldozed the entire place
like it wasn’t home to anyone. They affirmed that stigma when they treated the
Itipini residents like they were worthless. They set the tone for how these
people should be treated and perceived and now they’re battling against that to
find a place for these people to live.
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| A view of the Ilita housing area. It's not fenced in, I just took this picture from inside the gates of the Ikhwezi Lokusa grounds that back up to the settlement. |
As well, yesterday the Minister for Human Settlement for the
Eastern Cape came to Mthatha and had a meeting with residents of Waterfall and
also came to the Rotary Hall to meet with our Itipini people there. She is now
also working on the issue in trying to get housing for those at Rotary. So
progress is slow moving, but it seems to be moving nonetheless. The show must go on, as they say, and AMM
continues to truck along for the time being. We are doing our best to keep on
top of the municipality and be a voice for those at Rotary Hall and a liaison
between them and the municipality. We are also still helping to feed the folks
at Rotary and are doing songs and games with the preschool-age kids to keep
them entertained at least a little bit during the day. Their favorite game (and
one that requires no equipment) is “Chase Karen Around the Field” – which I
have to admit is quite fun! Singing and
playing with the kids in the midst of all of this is I think therapeutic for
everyone (I know it is for me). We have take our small joys where we can get
them, right?
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| Singing in the field next to Rotary Hall |
Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers.
Uxolo,
Karen
