A country without refuge

This weekend, I went to interview refugees who sought shelter in one of the Durban churches because of the recent xenophobic violence in the country. 48 people, sharing two rooms, sleeping on thin mattresses, each of them owning just the few possessions they managed to carry. There is no privacy, and a recent outbreak of chickenpox has left most of the children ill. 

The refugees, most from Burundi and the DRC, have lost their homes, their jobs and are too scared to leave the church premises at night. Even during the day, short visits to the supermarket are marked by fear of being attacked. I talked for a long time to a man named Eric, who had to flee his apartment with his 3 year old daughter, a beautiful little girl, because her life had been threatened - because she is half Burundi, half South African. Her mother, a Xhosa, is not allowed by her family to stay with her daughter anymore. The injustice of it all breaks my heart.