no one there. My wife can’t speak the language so how will she work? I don’t know what we will do.123 Elube of Malawian parentage described her family’s predicament to Human Rights Watch: The police came three weeks ago and told us to destroy our house and go back to the rural areas but we are of Malawian origin and we can’t go back. We were paying 600,000 Zimbabwe dollars for one room. For three weeks my husband, two children and I have been sleeping out in the open and yesterday it rained. Our property is now wet. My husband had a barbershop and I had a salon and the police destroyed them. Now we have nothing. I lived in Old Tafara for four years and was born and brought up in Zimbabwe, but the police were saying we want you to go to Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique; we don’t want you to stay here. Now we are no where.124 The Humanitarian Response Once the extent of the evictions became clear, local, international humanitarian organizations and UN agencies established a humanitarian assistance program to provide food and other basic necessities such as shelter to the victims. In July, rough estimates by the UN showed that 20 percent (114,000) of the affected population of 700,000 were living in the open with no shelter; 20 percent (114, 000) had gone or were forced to go to the rural areas; 30 percent (170,000) were absorbed by families, friends or the extended family; and 30 percent (170,000) sought refuge in the community in churches and other temporary accommodation.125 The pace of humanitarian assistance has been slow for a number of reasons. At first, the government of Zimbabwe hampered the humanitarian response. The authorities were reportedly reluctant to give humanitarian organizations access to those affected by the evictions.126 For example, in early June, two humanitarian food trucks were turned back 123 Human Rights Watch interview, Harare, June 29, 2005. 124 Human Rights Watch interview, Harare, June 25, 2005. 125 UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe, Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina, July 22, 2005. 126 Human Rights Watch interviews with UN officials, and representatives from local organizations, Harare, June and July 2005. 32