For my final blog I have decided to focus on the Social Justice Coalition visit that we had, since it sparked so much interest for me and I learned so much shocking information. The SJC is a group made up largely of people living in informal settlements, fighting for their own rights and the rights of other people in similar predicaments. The group’s main goal is to “advance the constitutional rights to life, dignity, equality, freedom and safety for all people”. I was so impressed by this group’s resilience, organization, and concern for people’s quality of life. I think one of the main reasons that this presentation was so intriguing to me was that it helped me to more fully understand the standard of living that people in informal settlements face on a daily basis. I was aware of how dangerous and bad it could be, but for some reason this was the first time that hearing about the real horror that people in these communities sometimes face really hit me. Part of that may be attributed to the fact that the presentation was led by a group of black women that actually lived in shacks in the informal settlements. Hearing about the struggles and injustices of people in informal settlements from women that actually live in them was so much more effective than hearing about these things from more privileged people who just study these places for a living. The pamphlet that was handed out to us was also extremely helpful to have as a reference, because it gave us some more context to the situation by summarizing the issues that the SJC mainly focuses on, the progress that has been made with these issues, as well as things that still need to be done in the future.
I was familiar with some of the issues mentioned during this talk from other visits to townships and informal settlements. The main one that I have continuously heard about and been the most troubled by is the danger of going to the bathroom during the night, since bathrooms are typically located outside of homes in public spaces with little to no lighting. For women in these communities especially, this is a huge safety issue. They risk getting attacked, robbed, raped, etc. when walking alone to the bathrooms at night, but with this being the only option for using a proper toilet, it is a risk that many of them must take. This made me realize that even something as mundane as going to use the bathroom at night is something that so many people take for granted, which is hard to wrap your head around. In addition to going to the bathrooms at night, many people in these areas leave very early in the morning for school or work when it is still dark out, and face the same risks when doing so. This of course led to the discussion of the lighting issue that informal settlements face. There is a lack of proper lighting throughout informal settlements, which just invites all types of crime. Fixing this problem is crucial to making even a small improvement in the crimes that occur at night and in the early morning, and is something that people in these settlements should not have to fight so hard for.
The injustices in police and general security throughout informal settlements were also incredibly shocking to learn about. The fact that adequate police and security guards can’t be provided, or trusted when they are provided, shows how little concern is felt for the safety of people living in these communities. Hearing about how women often don’t even report being victims of something as serious as rape because the police have no chance of catching the perpetrator’s was heartbreaking. This again is partly a result of the lighting issue. These serious crimes happen in the dark, so it is impossible for the victims to see the perpetrator’s face. In addition to not being able to tell police who to look for, there is no CCTV security, leaving no chance of ever finding the perpetrator. That is why murder rates are the only thing to base crime rates off of, because there is clear evidence of a dead body.
This talk was extremely effective overall and I am so glad we had the opportunity to hear from these empowering and intelligent women. I am hopeful for the future of the SJC and all of the things that they are working towards doing for informal settlements like Khayelitsha. I became so much more aware of specific issues prevalent throughout the city of Cape Town from hearing this talk, and loved seeing these women overcome all of their misfortune in order to fight for equal rights for all.
Comments
Post a Comment