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Yoliswa Dube recently in Masvingo
FROM his eyes, one could see months of pain and distress, every little wrinkle on his face represented a certain struggle and his voice quivered with worry and hopelessness, perhaps even anger emanating from the shackles of poverty oppressing him.
Stanley Bhayira now lives in a tiny blue tent with his wife and seven children after his home was swept away by devastating floods around the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam basin early this year.

The tent, which is barely big enough for one person, houses a family of nine, which has nowhere else to call home and has no option but to pack themselves in the shelter like sardines.

Bhayira’s neighbour, a mother of five, lives so close to his tent such that there is hardly any walking space in between the tents. More and more blue and white tents are pitched so close to each other as though they were woven together.

A couple of sticks, plastics and clothes are scantily joined together to make “bathrooms” while a hoe has become man’s best friend when one needs to relieve themselves as they have resorted to bush toilets.

Scores of families have had to call a stench-infested and crowded area where a “shelter box” is all they have – home. Life just got real at Chingwizi transit camp on Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi.

“We came here in February and things have not been well at all. Look at these tents; they’re not fit for any human being. Our health is no longer a priority as it should be. Goats and people go in the same direction when they need to relieve themselves. What kind of a life is this?

“It’s high time government compensated us because our houses were destroyed as a result of its project and we no longer have any livestock too. We’ve no other means of rebuilding our lives without assistance from government,” said Bhayira, who was sitting outside his tent when a Chronicle news crew visited the transit camp recently.

“Tanyanya kuita varombo (We’ve become too poor). I’ve seven children to take care of and I can’t do that as long as I’m here. This place is just too far from (Masvingo) town and making ends meet here is a mere dream.

“My children attend the school established especially for this camp but I don’t think they’re learning anything meaningful there. Even the teachers’ spirits in such an environment are bound to be dampened,” said Bhayira.

He explained that the tents, which had begun tearing, were cold at night, hot during the day and had started tearing.

“Dai hurumende yatipa compensation tawanawo zvekuita. Hupenyu huri kuno hauite. (The government should compensate us so that we have a starting point, we’re tired of living this kind of life).

“From here, we’re supposed to go to our one hectare pieces of land which should be allocated to us by government but we can’t go there without money,” said Bhayira.

Until recently, families at the Chingwizi transit camp were given food by the government and other non-governmental organisations but they have since been left to fend for themselves.

“We used to get sadza with beans and sometimes kapenta but we’re no longer being given any food. Instead, they only give us mealie-meal. I don’t know what they expect us to do for relish since we’re not working. Should we then eat sadza and water?” quizzed Bhayira.

One is greeted by so much pain and emotion upon arrival at the Chingwizi transit camp but somehow, the spirits of children have not been crushed by the poverty they stare in the face daily. It is the beauty of innocence. While their parents and guardians worry about money, food and good health – all they think about is the next game they will play.

They are covered in dust from head to toe with their bright eyes beaming with hope. They walk around bare foot – dressed in ragged torn clothes but because they are children, their little voices continue to scream and shout with so much energy.

Life goes on.
Revai Rangarirai, a mother of four, said she would rather be allocated a piece of land first before she is given any money saying money would find her while she is at her own abode.

“We can’t continue living in tents and using these kind of toilets and bathrooms. Our children will end up contracting diseases such as cholera because we’re crowded and live in a dirty environment. It’s only a matter of time before a health disaster explodes,” she said.

Rangarirai said women were the most affected as some had resorted to prostitution to make ends meet. As a result, there had been an outbreak of sexually transmitted infections with over 200 cases of syphilis and gonorrhea having been recorded in the past three months.

“The best thing is to just give people land so that they start re-building their lives. Of course we’re given sanitary ware by non-governmental organisations but they too are slowly distancing themselves and soon we’ll be completely stranded before we can stand on our own two feet,” she said.

The mother of four originally from Zunga Village said people were slowly losing hope and would rather die than continue living in such desperate conditions.

During the visit to the camp, a family mourned the death of a loved one who had succumbed to pneumonia while ironically, a stone’s throw away, another played their Zimdancehall music loudly.

A few metres away, enterprising villagers sold soft drinks, opaque beer, and food while others charged cellphones using a car battery for a fee. A vegetable market has also sprouted with other vendors selling cellphone airtime recharge cards – Complete chaos!

Privacy is now a figment of their imagination and respect for a fellow human being is slowly eroding.

“I’m going nowhere until I’ve been compensated,” vowed Last Matenga as he took a puff from a cigarette.

Matenga said he feared being forgotten the moment he left the transit camp and would rather stay put until he is compensated.

“The only problem is surviving here because we don’t work. People have started stealing goats from neighbouring villages because they don’t have money to buy food. If this continues, we’ll run out of goats to steal so government should just speed up the process of resettling us,” said Matenga.

They have a poorly resourced make-shift school — shunned by most of the camp dwellers on account of its distance and usefulness — and a clinic which is supposed to cater for the health needs of more than 18,000 people camped at the site.

Mulali Primary and Secondary Schools, where over 1,000 children of varying ages from the camp learn, is made up of a couple of tents, no furniture nor stationery. The bare ground and a small chalk board is all pupils and teachers rely on during the learning process.
A teacher at the school who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were coping well considering the conditions.

“We’re in transit, this is only temporary. We’ll move to the allocated premises as soon as they’re available,” he said.

The teacher added that children attended school regularly but the younger ones would not attend school often owing to the long distances they had to walk.

“Sometimes the younger children miss school because they have to walk a couple of kilometres to get here, but for more information about the school you can contact the district education officer for Mwenezi,” he said.

Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora said government had started demarcating and pegging about 60,000 hectares at Nuanetsi Ranch to resettle the affected families.

However, the pegging should have been completed by April. About $320,000 is required for the task.

Recently, government availed permanent stands to about 906 families displaced by the floods with at least 454 families having been moved from Chingwizi transit camp to their new settlement.

Masvingo provincial administrator Felix Chikovo said government had made significant progress in allocating affected families land on a permanent site.

He said those allocated stands were free to put permanent structures and start leading normal lives although they would use tents as shelter for a start. Chikovo acknowledged that some non-governmental organisations had pulled out of the transit camp but said a few had promised to extend their stay in the area.

“Families are expected to establish homesteads once they have moved to a permanent site and the government will continue assisting them,” said Chikovo.

He said construction of toilets and drilling of boreholes was in progress with 20 set for completion.