Mkwela Juma of Jullard Creations

reconciliation

after the reintegration something has been kicking in my heart saying we must unite but i was thinking on how , it took me days and sleepless nights thinking how are we going to unite. in september 2008 i attended lucca leadership course which really gave me the drive to go to the community and speak to the people then i came out with a plan of having a project .

it only took me a short time to engage youth to come to the project eventually we started with 40 creative and talented youth .
we do our class every day and we teach them ART'S & CRAFT , EDUCATION , HIV & AIDS , SPORTS & CULTURE . RECYCLING
by doing these we try and keep the youth off the streets , reduce crime, bringing peace into the community , creating employment and reducing poverty.

we are asking for any help with second hand tools .--- old textbooks , old computer boxes , old tyres , wire & beads .

by collecting these material it will help us run the project in a proper way.

thank you for reading the post we will be happy to receive your donations.

juma.

Update: Thanks to all who helped!

Hello again everyone,

It's been three months since I sent out an email appealing for your help as the xenophobic crisis hit Khayelitsha. Your response was overwhelmingly rapid and generous, and has enabled us help the people who ended up living at the Desmond Tutu hall. (By now, most have re-integrated into the community, and about 30 of the original Desmond Tutu hall dwellers are now in the nearby Solomon Mahlangu hall).

In total, IkamvaYouth received R76648.95 from a large number of people. Thank you so much to all of you, and especially to those who forwarded the email on and got your friends and family to donate as well. Thanks too to the people in the UK, Ireland, the US, Antigua and Basque Country who collected funds and transferred money to us. A very big THANK YOU is also due to the ikamvanites (learners, volunteers and interns from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, Ireland and the US) and TAC and other volunteers who gave their time and skills to help.

In the midst of this hugely depressing and disillusioning situation, your response gave hope. And it also provided basic essentials to people who have had everything taken away from them. Please see the break-down of the expenditure of your donations below. Your response to IkamvaYouth's appeal to help us help our neighbours was far larger and more effective than we had anticipated. And the impact was also further reaching. In addition to helping the displaced people, the involvement of our learners and volunteers in purchasing and distributing the food, medicines, kitchen equipment etc, sparked discussions and debate on issues of xenophobia and poverty, and helped to ensure that the Makhaza community was one into which many people have been able to re-integrate.

Please also have a look at the letters of thanks from Willard and Juma, the extremely inspiring young men from Zimbabwe who stood up to lead the community of hall dwellers. Despite the dire situations in which they found themselves, and the daily challenges they faced (one example of many: two women employed by the Department of Housing broke into the kitchen in the early hours one morning and stole the donated groceries), Willard and Juma never failed to put the others in the hall before them, and worked tirelessly to ensure that the hungry were fed and the sick received care.

Willard and Juma's response to the xenophobia that has wrecked their lives is one of forgiveness and reconciliation. In order to rebuild their lives and address the poverty they believe caused the violent outbreak, they have established a wire art project in Makhaza. They are inviting the members of their community to join them (both South Africans and foreign nationals), and the objectives of their project are to provide a means for creative expression, income generation and collaboration for peace and prosperity.

If you would like to help Willard and Juma to purchase materials for their project, please deposit donations into the following account:
WILLARD KAMBEVA
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
ACC NO 62176605940
BRANCH ST GEORGE"S MALL

Unfortunately, the crisis continues. There are still many halls and camps filled with many destitute people. The Treatment Action Campaign's amazing work to help people throughout the Western Cape is completely inspiring. From lobbying the Government in court (http://www.tac.org.za/community/node/2400) to continued humanitarian aid on the ground (http://www.tac.org.za/community/node/2392), TAC's leadership and action is interminable.

Please help them with the funds they desperately need to continue: http://www.tac.org.za/community/donate

Thanks again!
Love
Joy

More Zen, Less Phobia
Ikamva Lisezandlei Zethu / The Future is in Our Hands
------------------------------

--------------------------------------
Incoming: R76,648.95

Expenditure:
Airtime for people in the hall to contact family members: R559.76
Food, heaters, medicine, baby stuff, kitchen equipment and gas refills: R37,565.82
Money for displaced Zambian learners at IkamvaYoth KZN to replace uniforms and textbooks: R1000.00
Mattresses: R16,950.00
First month's rent for families to re-integrate into the community: R13,583.54
Printing for survey of needs and plans for the future, plus conversion of dv tape to dvd of footage from the hall: R480.26
Transport and telecommunications: R2610.68
Transport for unwell young woman to return to Zimbabwe: R1000.00
Investment in Willard and Juma's arts and crafts project: R1352.18
Bank charges: R565.11
TOTAL: R76,648.95

Juma's script

Well it only started like fire coming down from the sky when foreigners where attacked by some of the S.A nationals. Property, goods, belongings were stolen we were left with tears.
But if it wasn't lkamvaYouth who provided us with love, kind care and support e.g. money for rent, mattress, stoves, ean, heaters and groceries e.tc some of us would have been dead by now. We really appreciated that.

Yes they did take our staff but not skills and knowledge but what made them griddy l think its poverty, but how can we kill this poverty which leads to xenophobia, crime, drugs abuse and rape. We as lDP we decided it will be good to forgive them and come out with a solution of working together sharing knowledge and skills.
So we decided to do project e.g. art and craft

Update Re: Desmond tutu Hall

WELL LIFE IN DESMOND TUTU SEEMS TO BE BETTER BECAUSE WITHOUT IKAMVA YOUTH & TAC
SOME OF US WOULD HAVE LONG COMMITED SUICIDE BUT WE REALLY APPRECIATED IKAMVA'S PROMISES AS THEY PROMISED TO PROVIDE MONEY FOR RENT AND FOF REINTERGRATION.
ON 08/07/08 OUR PROMISES WERE FULFILLED BY IKAMVA AS 11 FAMILIES WERE GIVEN MONEY FOR RENT AND READY TO GO BACK TO THE COMMUNITY SO THEY HAD TO WAIT FOR TAC AS THEY PROMISED TO PROVIDE GROCERIES.
IT WAS AROUND 4PM ON 09/07/08 WHEN A GROUP OF SO CALLED COMMUNITY MEMBERS, PASTOR AND A COUPLE OF POLICEMAN CAME AND FORCED AND WERE TREATENING PEOPLE TO MOVE OUT OF DESMOND TUTU TO SOLOMON MAHLANGU HALL WE TRIED TO RESIST BUT THE THREATENING WAS TOO MUCH AS THEY PROMISED TO BRING GANGS DURING THE NIGHT AND KILL PEOPLE. SO WE DECIDE TO MOVE TO SOLOMON MAHLANGU AND THATS WERE WE ARE OVER CROWDED IN A SMALL HALL.

THE PEOPLE IN SOLOMON M WERE 86 SO ALL TOGETHER WE ARE 239 BUT THOSE 11 PEOPLE MANAGED TO MOVE OUT ON THE 10/07/08 .WE ALSO GAVE IKAMVA ANOTHER LIST OF PEOPLE WILLING TO MOVE OUT. ON 12/07/08 SOME SECURITY THREW TEARGAS INTO THE HALL WHILST WE WERE SLEEPING AS RESULTS OF THAT 8 PEOPLE FAINTED AND WERE RUSHED TO THE CLINICS BUT THEY WERE NOT RESPONDED AS EMERGERCY AND SOME WERE GIVEN WRONG TREATMENT, THEN ON THE 14/07/08 A MEETING WAS SET WITH THE SO CALLED ''COMMUNITY MEMBERS'' AND THEIR AGENDA WAS TO PUT THE 25/07/08 AS THE DEAD LINE FOR CLOSING ALL THE HALLS BUT THEY NEVER HAD A SOLUTION ON HOW TO REINTEGRATE THEM.

SO PEOPLE ARE PRAYING THEY CAN ALL GET MONEY FOR RENT AND STUFF SO AS TO END ALL THIS CONFLICTS.

A small but useful hand-up

IkamvaYouth is using the rest of the funding it has received (almost R80 000!) from its friends and supporters for the displaced people in the Desmond Tutu hall to cover the costs of one month's rent for families who wish to be re-integrated into the community, but lack the financial means to cover rent.

So far, 11 families have moved back into their homes, and IkamvaYouth has paid the rent directly to the landlords. The TAC provided transport and food parcels.

This seems to be the only sustainable solution to this problem, and we hope to be able to help more families to return, re-integrate and re-build their lives.

Update re: Desmond Tutu Hall

Things are going from bad to worse. Some of the problems facing the hall dwellers over the past two weeks include:

• Severe shortage of food (TAC is struggling to keep up with the demand, and the Mustafadin foundation's food is unfamiliar to most of the hall dwellers, and is causing diarrhoea)
  
• Theft by local officials from the department of housing: Two ladies went into the kitchen at 5am, put all the food donations into black bags, bribed the security guards, and wheeled enough food to feed all 150 people for two days in a trolley. There were a number of witnesses, and the theft has been reported (to their superiors and the police), but nothing has happened.

Then, on 9 July, the police arrived with vans to forcibly remove the (already oft-times displaced) people to the Solomon Mahlangu hall. We received panicked calls from people on the scene, but when there's something strange in your neighbourhood... who're you going to call? The corrupt local officials? The police who're forcing people to move?
... The TAC, of course.
TAC was (as usual) quick to respond, but we lost the battle... there was no choice. TAC facilitated the move, and there are now 200 people at Solomon Mahlangu.