Harassed by Police to Leave – Again

We made another trip to the Kedong IDP camp today to see what we could do to help those still stranded there. The numbers are slowly dwindling as people are giving up hope of ever seeing the money that is due them to enable them to start their lives afresh. The conditions too must be so difficult for many to bear. There has not been any rain since Sunday so the nights are not as cold. But without any form of protection available from the elements, surely that cannot be easy to endure for much longer!

Waiting patiently for a small gift of clothing

We heard more disturbing news that the police had returned to try and convince the remaining people to leave. Initially they came last night at 2100 and told the IDP that they were to go to the DO’s office. Everybody refused to leave.

Today the police returned at around 0800 in the morning. This time, when the IDP refused to go with them, the police tore down the make-shift shelters people had set up and confiscated all of the tents along with some other personal possessions. Now they have nothing to protect them from the cold by night or the heat of the sun by day. Many people just have pieces of cardboard on the ground between them and the dusty earth.

How much longer can people be expected to withstand such conditions? And will they ever see any of those possessions again which were taken by the police? It’s no wonder that many are now talking of moving on. They have tried to get what is theirs but it looks like they’re fighting a force too strong for them.

We had shared with some of our church members on Sunday what has been happening at the Kedong camp. Some friends wanted to do their part to help and provided us with extra clothing which we could distribute to the IDP. It is so little, and you sometimes wonder whether it is even worth it. Yet many still appreciate the gesture and that then makes it all worthwhile.

While we were handing out clothing everybody suddenly started to yell and jeer at two men passing along the road. It turns out the men were two of the police officers who had come that morning to try and force people to leave. This time they were in plain clothes, not in their police uniform. Did they come to see how many people were still holding out?

The small gift of food we could make
seemed so trivial compared to the need

We also brought some food to give out. Sometimes you feel so powerless! You wish you could do more. What is so little food amongst so many? Or so few clothes for those who lost so much? Yet despite these feeble efforts, people were so appreciative. Maybe part of that is because it shows that they have not been forgotten. I am saddened that none of the local newspapers have picked up the story of what has happened at the Kedong IDP camp. How much longer will these people be willing or able to wait for what is due them before they all resign themselves to the inevitable and disappear?