Several days ago, I briefly made note of the xenophobic violence that has swept the country in the last few weeks. This morning, I went out to check up on the consequences–thousands of immigrants taking refuge in churches and mosques from threats, violence, and intimidation in their communities. It’s beyond comprehension.
“How many people do you have today?”
“Two more busloads coming, ok.”
“Any victims of violence?”
“Two stabbings, one burning, got it.”
At the sites we visited to gather data for relief efforts run by SHAWCO, the Treatment Action Campaign, and dozens of other civic organizations, things actually seemed to be under control. In numbers ranging from 17 at one church to over 200 at a nearby mosque, the displaced Mozambicans, Congolese, Zimbabweans, and Somalis quietly lunched on bread and beans, or slept on one of the thin mats laid out in long rows. The calm atmosphere, however, belies a paralyzing set of circumstances: many had had their homes destroyed, friends and relatives attacked, money and possessions lost–leaving them without the means to even flee back to their home countries, which they often left for similar reasons. Everyone talks about re-integrating them back into normal life, especially the white Presbyterian church we visited, which emphasized the dangers of dependence and the need to reclaim a sense of “self-worth.” But when you hear about one church in the cushy southern suburbs getting attacked by an angry mob after being inundated by refugees who fled violence in the townships, where do you go? While of the refugees had braved public transportation to go to their jobs, many more are still shut inside walled compounds, afraid to be foreign even in this most cosmopolitan of cities.
Urban refugee situations are hard to deal with because they’re so hard to keep track of, as new sites keep mushrooming and disappearing again when people move around. Right now, the political leadership is bickering over whether to keep people in the small community-run sites or to consolidate them into larger groups, which can apparently not be called refugee camps. I can see the argument for both sides: on the one hand, faith-based groups are ideally equipped to support people for temporary periods, since most congregations are only too eager to donate stuff and time. On the other, it’s a lot easier to deliver services that churches can’t provide if you don’t have to drive around finding them all day. Either way, it’s a dreadful, dehumanizing business.
NB: Because we were on a fact-finding mission, I gathered that taking pictures would have been a no-no. I stole this photo, which looks a lot like what I saw, from Agence France-Presse.
