6.
Deaths and illness
Most respondents reported deaths of family members in the last five years. The pastor
supplied a record of 63 people who have died in the Cement Siding area of Killarney since
January 2006. Approximately 200 families reside in this area, known as Killarney Village Two,
accounting for around 650 people – or half of Killarney’s population. This amounts to around
a 10% death rate. The average age of death was 48 years. HIV is the most common cause of
death, and this is a disease that is exacerbated by poverty and poor nutrition. Several of the
dead were infants, and others were in their teens and twenty’s. Among the living, many are ill,
and while some have managed to access ARV programmes, others who are visibly very ill are
not yet on ARVs.
7.
Stands allocated to a few
Only five families in Killarney have benefited from a small housing scheme financed by IOM in
Emganwini high density suburb. Since 2005, IOM have facilitated the building of a grand total
of 33 houses for all those displaced in Bulawayo during the demolitions. Originally, 12
families from Killarney were allocated stands, but 7 failed to take up the offer for unclear
reasons. These 7 stands were reallocated to families from Ngozi Mine.
Chart iv: employment in informal settlements 2010
[Note: “rubbish” refers to making a living out of sifting items from the municipal rubbish dump
for reuse or resale]
8.
“Success” stories
While many respondents in Killarney and Ngozi Mine are clearly living bleak and difficult
lives, a few individuals appear to be contented with their current situation. At Ngozi Mine, we
interviewed some amazingly enterprising individuals, with great ingenuity and artistic talent,
which they are using to survive these tough times. One man burns tyres in order to retrieve
the internal wire, which he then hand‐makes painstakingly into diamond mesh fencing. He
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