Growing fear of disease
Gift of Givers called in after cases of diarrhoea and chronic illnesses erupt
WITH the refugees and asylum seekers protest entering its fourth week, concerns over the health and well-being of their children have been raised.
This follows after a meeting held on Monday with NGOs and the provincial social development department where the protest leaders rejected the offered assistance.
Last week police and law enforcement officers forcibly removed the group that had been camping outside the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) offices at Waldorf Arcade in St George’s Mall for more than three weeks, forcing them to seek refuge at the Central Methodist Church.
Gift of the Givers director Badr Kaazi said the aid organisation was called over the weekend after cases of diarrhoea, communicable diseases and chronic illness erupted.
“The children were not fine under the circumstances but the general health of people was on the whole, fair. However, that is not an ideal situation because many of these people have been exposed to aliments for a very long time.”
Jean Pierre Balous, from the Women and Children Concern (WCC) said their children “were used to these conditions”.
“Nobody can try to come and pretend they care about our children. If they cared about children they wouldn’t be allowing mothers to give birth in a hospital and leave without a certificate, and a name. Our children have been suffering for years and years,” he said.
Balous said there were around 80 school-going age children in the church. He said they were “trying to provide some transport in order for them to finish the year, but it’s becoming more difficult, because of the increase in attacks against them”.
Joshua Chigome, spokesperson for Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez said the department’s role was to provide support to children.
“Social workers from social development, ACVV, and Scalabrini Centre attempted to do assessments at both the police station and the church site. However, parents refused to co-operate, and social work services were rejected by the adults/parents of the children,” he said.
Chigome said social workers were monitoring the situation.
However, Balous was adamant that “if there is no answer we will stay on the streets in town. We are almost as safe as being on those townships where we can go back and get killed at any time,” he said.