Just over four months ago a fire ripped through an informal settlement in Hout Bay, Leaving loads of families displaced.
Now for those of you that have no idea of what an informal settlement looks like in SA, it's basically low cost housing consisting of thousands of tin shacks basically on top of each other, most with no electricity and water.
The fire spread within hours taking homes of about 15 thousand people and the whole community was amazing and switched into ubuntu mode, feeding halls where set up and drop offs of
Resources for all effected.
All seemed well, temporary homes set up and life for most went on.
Here is Thandile standing where his house was.
But as the months have passed and promises to the people have been broken, people are now living in worse conditions then ever and no one is listing.
So this weekend they took to the street and what started as a peaceful "riot" soon turned ugly!
Being a relatively small village with one road in and one road out, this ment that access in and out for residents was compromised.
The posts on Facebook have blown my mind! Someone actually complained because they could not get to their mani and pedi!
The lack of empathy for other humas is something that I really struggle with. Living in a country with such extreme poverty I often struggle with the fact that people close to me live in dire conditions and most people just seem to drive by! Some even try to ignore it some kid themselves into thinking it's not that bad.
My concern is with a failed government and what seems like a failing community with zero structure where do we go from here ?
How can I help the people be heard?
Xx Tj