Don’t return

“I currently have one child.” These are the words of Helen, a Zimbabwean woman in her mid-50s, sitting next to her crutches on the floor in a busy room in the basement of the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg. She already had the chance to cook, while other women still wait with their babies for their turn to use one of the 2-plate electric stoves in a corner of the room. It used to be a storage room, when the church was still used in its original way. Now it serves as a dorm, a creche and a kitchen for at least 40 of the 1,500 refugees presently living in the building. As the ventilation ceased to work at some point during the 6 years in which the refugees have been inhabiting the church, the air is hot, thick and sticky and smells of a mixture of old clothes, sweat and the food that is being prepared in several pots simultaniously.

Helen invited me to share her modest dinner of sadsa (maize porridge) and beef since I remind her of her first born son and because, as she puts it, if I met her in Germany, I would say “come here maGogo, have a meal with me”. The fact that she has one child at present doesn’t mean that she is planning to become pregnant again, but merely that there was a time when she had four children and that she survived three of them. The remaining one is still in Zimbabwe, finishing his schooling, whereas the others either fell victim to state suppression, died from sickness or lost their lives on the journey to South Africa. As things got worse back home, Helen also decided to hit the road for the dangerous and incredibly straining journey to South Africa in the search of a life that is in any way better than the existence in a place that under “the old man” Robert Mugabe’s rule provides neither food nor jobs which could pay you enough money to buy food.

Stories like hers are as many in the church as there are people. All of them tell of deep trauma and personal tragedy. However, as a matter of fact, for most South Africa turned out not to be the save haven they hoped for. The lack of papers won’t allow them to work toward a better situation and also makes them subject to arbitrary repressions by the police as soon as they leave the shelter of the church. As long as things do not change substantially in Zim, going home is no option. Hence Helen and her compatriots are caught in a constant state of limbo which doesn’t leave any other option than to persevere with the status quo and to wait for better times.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dedicated a whole page in last thursday’s issue to an insight into the conditions under which these people live. I really appreciate the photographic emphasis of the article. After going back to the church for another time and spending a night there the series became a bit more dense. You will find it soon on felixseuffert.com.

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