So my first week at Scalabrini Center was a nice way to ease me into the projects I will be helping with. As the core of my work will be on cite in De Doorns, I spent my first week reading background information on the history of the conflict in De Doorns. I learned so much about the immigration patterns of immigrants to the area and the social and political conflicts surrounding the community issues. With a solid understanding of what violence occurred, and how the Zimbabweans were held at a "safe" Camp, for almost 1 year, it sounds like in the end, the re-integration project was supported by at least some of the community. Those affected were given a financial token to apologize for the terrible crimes, thus publicly acknowledging these offenses.
Yesterday I learned that February 2009, 7 Zimbabweans were burnt to death in
their shacks in De Doorns (the township I will be working in). This
coupled with my awareness of the 2500+ Zimbabweans forced out of their homes
(shacks) onto a sports field after being threatened with their lives,
really puts things into perspective. Hard to believe that in the 21st
century crimes so heinous are still frequently occuring.
Hope I can help.
We head out to De Doorns for my first time this Friday afternoon. I'll have much more to report after that!
-Laura
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