11. Case histories Situation one Cowdray Park, Bulawayo urban A community of 9 adults and 14 children Originally from Killarney informal settlement Interviews: bi-monthly since September 2005; most recent mid-June 2006 Of the original eight families here in October 2005, six remain. One family has gone back to Killarney, where they were originally living, and one woman has got a job at the OGHK building site and has moved into a room where she pays rent. One of the group has died – the very ill man pictured in the last report in photo 9; he died within weeks of this photograph being taken. A woman who has returned from these five tents to Killarney was located there and interviewed. She reported that life in the tents was unbearable and that life in Killarney is better. However, she complained about the fact that her child was now out of school, but had been attending school in Cowdray Park. There is still no water or sanitation on the site of the tented camp, which seems to have been entirely ignored by everyone since it was set up. There is no official awareness that this camp exists. When one of the families from here walked over to the OGHK project being developed nearby, to enquire as to whether and how they could be allocated a house, as promised, the District Administrator Mr Moyo expressed total surprise and asked them why they were staying there and ordered them to move. They went to inquire about buying a HK house, and were threatened at that point. They were told they should have moved by then. It was made clear they were not supposed to benefit from the houses. This was at the end of April. This was not the first time that they have been threatened with further removal. At the end of 2005 and again early in 2006 they were warned by a policeman that they should prepare themselves for removal at some point to an unspecified place. The adults here support themselves by piecework. Some of them are vending in town. One of the men here has formal employment at a furniture company. Others are gold panners within the vicinity. Some of the families from these tents were reported to us as having been seen back in Killarney, assessing the area and their options of going back. Those in Killarney predict that the Cowdray Park families will in time head back to Killarney. NGO support: they have been getting food from Churches in Bulawayo, and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace has been providing school fees and clothing, and health care via the local Catholic parish. There has been no support from UN agencies or any other group. They commented that they had been interviewed by so many people and this had raised their expectations, but had not resulted in anything tangible apart from basic support from the Catholic church. 54