Mattresses arrive at Desmond Tutu Hall

150 new mattresses purchased for Hall occupants arrive.

Update 10 June

We continue on our mission to help those staying in the Desmond Tutu Hall and find a sustainable solution to their displacement problems.

 Today there was a community meeting in Khayelitsha run by the Police High Commission. The leaders and many other members of the Foreigners Committee attended the meeting and reported mixed results. Many of the non-government organizations and community members were not in attendance due to unsuccessful efforts to publicize the meeting. Members of the High Commission, some area city councilors as well as members of the religious community were present. They put forth a message of celebration to welcome the foreigners back into the community. Despite this interesting turn of events, there were few plans to implement reintegration or legal documentation of the foreigners. This leaves the residents of the Desmond Tutu Hall with more questions than answers, especially about the possibility of resident permits, which they believed would be available at the meeting.

 We took a survey to access the needs of the people in Desmond Tutu Hall. Most of the refugees, who are from Zimbabwe, wish to stay in South Africa. They want assistance to rebuild their lives and businesses. Ikamva continues to supply small necessary foodstuffs and other items. We are excited for the arrival of mattresses tomorrow. 

Update: 6 June

Desmond Tutu Hall was considerably less overcrowded today, as refugees decamped congested quarters to take full advantage of favorable weather. Coordination between organizations are steadily improving in the Hall. Ikamvanites worked closely with government representatives from the Department of Housing and Mustadafin Foundation to ensure purchased food and toiletries are securely stored in an office, and efficiently disseminated to Hall occupants through the weekend. Recent highlights include:

*Purchased two days worth of chicken, sausages, vegetables, margarine, soaps, lotions, etc. for Hall occupants
* Purchased 150 new mattresses for Hall occupants, as a substitute to the cold concrete floors previously utilized
* Generated a preliminary questionnaire to assess occupant needs, living conditions, and future plans
*Updated database with new data recording additional illnesses and decreasing Hall numbers

Ikamva will continue its partnership with local organizations to provide necessary services and identify remedies to the existing crisis.

Where we are, and how to get there

Just a quick update on the location of Desmond Tutu Hall: We're in Makhaza, on the far east end of Khayelitsha. The community center is adjacent to the Nazeema Isaacs library and to our IkamvaYouth office.


This is a more close up view. We are located just two minute away from the Stellenbosch/Baden Powell exit of the N2. After turning off, turn right southbound and take a right on the first onto Landsdowne Rd. On the second crossroads turn left for parking in front of the library and Desmond Tutu Hall.

(you can drag or resize the map to see the exact route to take)

STOP XENOPHOBIA

The xenophobic attacks have showed a bad impression to our country. The eyes of the of the whole world are now are now looking at South Africa with shame and disappointment. A country so loved and respected by the world is now turning into a chaotic circus. The attacks on foreigners are not something we can all tolerate and be proud of. It is not all South Africans that are committing this shame and embarrassment, it is a small amount of people doing it without really considering what they are actually doing and it's consequences. They did not think about the innocent lives they are destroying. They have their reasons for committing these violent attacks; firstly these are poor individuals, angry that our government is not delivering; is failing to create jobs for the people; and is not doing enough to fight poverty and crime. But now they are taking out their anger on poor, innocent souls. This is totally wrong and unacceptable.

These refugees didn't come to South Africa looking for trouble, but to seek greener pasturers and make a living just like all of us.

The majority of these foreigners are hard-working individuals trying their best to survive in a country away from home and a country like a promised land to them. They leave their wives, children, families and everything behind, because of political and economical crisis in their countries of birth. Most of these guys don't take away our jobs but instead they start their own businesses. Some of them are even willing to work 15 hours for a low wage of R10, and this is only because they are desperate and have no other options. They shouldn't be blamed for doing something many South African wouldn't because its labor abuse. The ones to blame are the South Africans who offer the foreigners these jobs and by doing so take advantage of their situation, because they know these guys won't say no or turn down the offer since they are immigrants and have no labor laws or unions that protect their rights.

Even the foreigners with false South African Identification documents are not to be blamed. Open your eyes and look around: we have corrupt officials working at Home Affairs that sell these illegal emigrants false Id's. They should be blamed.

Now I'm very concerned about this whole thing and have a couple of questions that I'd like to ask everyone because this thing affects all of us. I believe that these guys are innocent, now why do we have to kill them? Is it because of their colour that we hate them so much? Is it because of where they come from that we have to rob them their belongings and chase them away? Tell.... me what is it? Alright, whatever reason you may have for being xenophobic and killing foreigners, in front of God there's no excuse for killing another human being. When you stand before God on the judgement day and answer for the cruel xenophobic attacks you've committed, believe me you, you'll be found guilty.

My beatiful South Africans, let's not forget where we come from and how we got our freedom. Let's not destroy what we've fought so hard to achieve. You know its easy to destroy but its hard to build. Let's all come together and fight for what we believe in. So I'd like to pledge every Soth African to stand, speak out, join hands and act in every possible way to stop these xenophoboc attacks against our African brothers and sisters. Let's all sing in one voice and say no to xenophobia. Let's come together; the rich and the poor, white and black, young and old and land a helping hand to the victims of xeniphobia. Let's remember that we are all Africans and Africa is our home. Let's become One and bring back back the spirit of Ubuntu. And our first step is saying 'no to xenophobia.'

Update: 4 June

The number in the hall today is around 248, and our new interns Amanda and Elice have dived straight into work in our office near the Desmond Tutu hall.

We have:
* Liased with the lady from the Department of Housing who has begun trying to get information about the people in the hall. Amanda and Elice have drastically improved from the pen-and-paper system, and created a database. Tomorrow we're going to start collecting the rest of the information, and finding out about each person's immediate needs, and also their ideas and desires about life after living in the Desmond Tutu hall.
* Made contact with the Mustadafin foundation, which has been despatched by the City to provide food to the people in the Hall. This way, we can better coordinate our efforts, and avoid duplication.
* Written a proposal for 200 mattresses: people are getting sick from having spent more than a week sleeping on the cold concrete floor of the hall.
* Met with the foreigner's committee leader, Willard. He gave us a list of their needs, which we sent through to Mustadafin today. Tomorrow, we'll purchase whatever the foundation has been unable to provide from this list.

Our plan going forward is to work together with the City to find a sustainable solution to this problem.

The good news is that the woman who we took to hospital on Monday is still there, and doing a lot better.

Update: 3 June

We have been so uplifted and impressed with the amazing response that people have had to the email we sent on Friday, asking for support for the people in the hall. We have been able to purchase a lot of essential items (food, medicine, baby stuff, urns, heaters, blankets, gas stoves and bottles), which is helping to make things a lot easier.

The main problem we're facing at the moment, is that many of the people in the hall are sick. Yesterday, we had to take a 25 year old woman to the hospital, as she had a miscarriage two months into her pregnancy. She was in a very bad state, and the ambulance didn't pitch, so we took her to Karl Bremer at about 12:00pm. At 6pm yesterday, the ambulance called to say they were on their way. Luckily for the woman, who had an operation last night and is still in hospital, we did the Department of Health's job for them.

Today, James Porter, a medic intern who received my email via my sister Ryley, has come to help out at the hall. Yesterday, Simphiwe and Thando put together a list of ailments (it's long, and ranges from coughs and diarrhoea to asthma and diabetes), which James is hopefully going to be able to make some progress with today.

The way things are at the moment is really unsustainable, and so we're really pleased (and relieved!) to have a group of interns who are joining us to help. We're going to interview all the people in the hall, and find out where they want to go next -- it seems that some people want to go back to their homes in Khayelitsha (some already have); others need new homes; and others want to move back to their own countries. (Most of the people in our hall are from Zimbabwe).

We're hoping that funds keep flowing into our account, so that we can continue to do our best to meet the basic needs of the people in the hall, and help them to re-build their lives. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped thus far!

Displaced foreigners in Khayelitsha need your help

On Friday 30 May, I sent this email below to a bunch of people, and the response has been amazing. So I'm setting up this blog, to document how things are going in the hall, to keep everyone updated, and to begin figuring out a more sustainable solution to helping the people in the Hall to rebuild their lives.

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Hi everyone,

I'm sending this to a big group of people, and I'm hoping that you will all be able to help us. As most of you know, IkamvaYouth is based at the Nazeema Isaacs library, and our new office is part of the building next door, that houses the Desmond Tutu Hall in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

As a result of the horrendous xenophobic violence, we have had between 400 and 900 people in the hall over the past week - most of them Zimbabwean. Today (Friday 30 May), we have 400 people in the hall, and we don't have enough food to feed them lunch and dinner.

Today is their eighth day here, and the situation is desperate. There are 20 infants, 3 pregnant women (one in severe pain), and people are beginning to get sick. They are all sleeping on the concrete floor, and we are struggling to ensure that everyone gets fed. Although TAC and other organisations are doing an INCREDIBLE job at coordinating civil society's response to the crisis, and ensuring that donations reach those in need across the country, more help is needed.

Ikamvanites, led by Bongani Ndubata, are helping out at the Desmond Tutu hall, and purchasing goods most needed by the refugees, as soon as funds arrive in our account. Please help us to enable the members of the Makhaza community who are against these xenophobic attacks to help the victims of this disturbing violence. Please deposit cash into our account (with the reference "Tutu").

Alternatively, please bring donations to the hall, or drop off them off with TAC volunteers at 50 Cantebury Street, off Roeland Street in Cape Town. Generally, we need food, milk, baby formula, nappies, buckets, jugs, blankets, matresses, cleaning stuff, stoves, medicine, urns for hot water, money to buy airtime so that people can contact their families, etc. If anyone with medical expertise can come volunteer - please call us now!!!

To find out what's most needed at the time of your donation, please contact Bongani on 0726483278, or IkamvaYouth on 021-3626799.

Our bank details are:
Bank: Standard Bank
Branch: Cape Town
Name of the account: Ikamva Lisezandleni Zethu
Account Number: 070188009
Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ

Thanks for your help!

Joy Olivier
IkamvaYouth
South Africa
+27 83 9513336
www.ikamvayouth.org