Creating New Partners and Homes for Over 340 Zimbabwean Families

Alysha Atma Salem-News.com African Affairs Correspondent

In 2009, tensions erupted after labor disputes. The result was a wave of farm evictions, building destruction and homelessness.

Zimbabwe flag

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Forced evictions and violence last year in Chipinge, Zimbabwe displaced more than 340 families, driving them into emergency displacement camps, International Organization for Migration (IOM) has begun resettling the families in the village of Mugondi.

Since October 2009, IOM and partners have been the support and assistance for the displaced families, including transportation, construction of community-based shelters, water and sanitation facilities and the rehabilitation of classroom blocks. In addition, IOM has worked in cooperation with the Zimbabwean government to ensure that sufficient land occupancy documentation is provided to the families.

Zimbabwe's Fast Track Land Reform Program, beginning in 2000, led to widespread land disputes in many farming communities across the country, the violence was compounded by the post-election crisis of 2008.

In 2009, tension between newly resettled small-scale farmers and tenants in the Chipinge farming areas erupted after labor disputes. The result was a wave of farm evictions, displacements and the destruction of more than 400 houses, leaving almost 1,700 individuals homeless.

"The Mugondi resettlement is a good example of how government, local communities and humanitarian partners can work together to facilitate durable solutions for vulnerable IDPs," said IOM Deputy Chief of Mission Katie Kerr. "By expanding our focus from the needs of displaced families to also those of their new neighbors, IOM aims to encourage integration between the two."

Source: International Organization for Migration

Alysha Atma spends many hours working on projects that support and benefit the beleaguered people of African nations who spend way too much time off the western media's radar. This writer explains that she is a culmination of all her experiences, most importantly knowledge she says, and all that she still needs to learn; lessons of love, laughter and the extraordinary giving of both young and old. She says she has the enormous fortune of learning from the best; every person around her, and the amazing strength and fortitude of those she has never met but will always strive to listen to. "I continue to work and write because I believe in the power of community and the power of one, both contradictory to each other and yet can move together in a very powerful way. I feel a responsibility to use my place, freedoms and connections here in the US to stand up and yell for those who need my voice and actions. I have seen such strength in my fellow humans that I cannot even begin to comprehend, they have traveled distances, have gone without food, water, shelter and safety for days and weeks at a time. I have a responsibility as a fellow human to put our common humanity before anything else. Everyone deserves to look towards tomorrow, to dream of a safe future and to have a peaceful present." You can write to Alysha Atma at: alyshann78@comcast.net