Bulawayo update
From our inside correspondent:
9 July 2005
No news is not necessarily good news. Whilst the immediate impact of “Operation Drive out Trash” has abated somewhat, the suffering continues. This weekend marks 4 weeks since the police / militia invaded the Killarney settlement, and the displaced people are still in the same desperate situation that they were in then, it’s just that this is no longer “news” but “olds”.
The police are still going round the old established suburbs and breaking down homes, or forcing people to break them down themselves. I read of one place in Harare where people were going to be charged a fee of USD150 for the regime to break down their houses, if they didn’t demolish their own homes themselves…. the brazenness is unbelievable. At least the owners get to salvage door frames and window frames and so on, if they do the demolition themselves.
We pray that the visit of Ms Tibaijuka (UN Envoy for Habitat) will yield some hard-hitting words from that organization. She certainly seems to have had the opportunity to witness first-hand the devastation, despite the regime’s efforts to thwart her.
For those involved in assisting the displaced in Bulawayo, a well co-ordinated team manages the logistics centrally, bringing food and other basic necessities to the churches who are temporarily housing these people. However, the day to day issues take up a lot of time, and most other church work is put on the back-burner, which is fine – many of us sense God keenly at work in our churches at this time and speaking to us. Thank God that his grace is sufficient!
The authorities are still talking about setting up a holding camp some 30kms outside the city on a farm, but tents are still to be pitched, and toilet facilities still to be dug. At least the church now has a firm say in what will happen to these people, as we have been involved in the humanitarian relief aspect from the beginning. But we fear that it will be a case of “out of sight, out of mind”, once these people are moved out there. When we struggle to get petrol or diesel to make that short trip from our homes to town, how many of us are going to actually make the sacrifice of time and fuel to go out and visit the people in the camps once they’re set up? Most likely, if it goes ahead, it will become yet another near-permanent settlement, and no plans to properly re-house will ever be carried through to completion. That would leave the inhabitants way out of town, and hence far from any source of income (however meagre) – so some at least would migrate back to the city again in time.
Please continue praying for these people, and for the issues raised above. We pray for a miracle, and that these events will prompt more people to raise their voices in protest at the evil which we see. In the words of Isaiah:
9 July 2005
No news is not necessarily good news. Whilst the immediate impact of “Operation Drive out Trash” has abated somewhat, the suffering continues. This weekend marks 4 weeks since the police / militia invaded the Killarney settlement, and the displaced people are still in the same desperate situation that they were in then, it’s just that this is no longer “news” but “olds”.
The police are still going round the old established suburbs and breaking down homes, or forcing people to break them down themselves. I read of one place in Harare where people were going to be charged a fee of USD150 for the regime to break down their houses, if they didn’t demolish their own homes themselves…. the brazenness is unbelievable. At least the owners get to salvage door frames and window frames and so on, if they do the demolition themselves.
We pray that the visit of Ms Tibaijuka (UN Envoy for Habitat) will yield some hard-hitting words from that organization. She certainly seems to have had the opportunity to witness first-hand the devastation, despite the regime’s efforts to thwart her.
For those involved in assisting the displaced in Bulawayo, a well co-ordinated team manages the logistics centrally, bringing food and other basic necessities to the churches who are temporarily housing these people. However, the day to day issues take up a lot of time, and most other church work is put on the back-burner, which is fine – many of us sense God keenly at work in our churches at this time and speaking to us. Thank God that his grace is sufficient!
The authorities are still talking about setting up a holding camp some 30kms outside the city on a farm, but tents are still to be pitched, and toilet facilities still to be dug. At least the church now has a firm say in what will happen to these people, as we have been involved in the humanitarian relief aspect from the beginning. But we fear that it will be a case of “out of sight, out of mind”, once these people are moved out there. When we struggle to get petrol or diesel to make that short trip from our homes to town, how many of us are going to actually make the sacrifice of time and fuel to go out and visit the people in the camps once they’re set up? Most likely, if it goes ahead, it will become yet another near-permanent settlement, and no plans to properly re-house will ever be carried through to completion. That would leave the inhabitants way out of town, and hence far from any source of income (however meagre) – so some at least would migrate back to the city again in time.
Please continue praying for these people, and for the issues raised above. We pray for a miracle, and that these events will prompt more people to raise their voices in protest at the evil which we see. In the words of Isaiah:
‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’ – “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58: 3, 6-7).
posted at 10:14 pm
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