NEWS LETTER-MAY 2011

ADRO’S NEW PROJECT ON: CORPS OF MEDIATORS, PEACE MAKERS AND PROMOTERS OF THE CULTURE OF PEACE TRAINING PROGRAMME

The African Disabled Refugee Organisation (ADRO) has initiated a Human Rights Training Programme throughout the community in the Western Cape. The program’s aim is to train as many as 1,000 Human Rights Peer Educators in 2011-2012. Working in collaboration with the Black Sash and other organizations in the area, ADRO hopes to achieve this number soon.

The months of March and April set a promising example for continuation of the program, especially in areas where many community leaders were unaware of their rights and the rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants as well. The training workshops additionally targeted informal traders and the youth. The program has seen a positive response from the host Community.
Topics discussed in the workshops included human rights, cultural diversity, anger management, conflict management by communication, constitutional rights and xenophobia. The discussion on human rights focused on what a “human right” is in comparison to other types, such as civil or political rights. Ways in which people’s rights could be violated were further discussed, as well as ways to protect against these violations as a community.
The discussion on cultural diversity was used to emphasize differences among peoples from all over the world. An exercise was done to demonstrate the similarities that may exist between those from separate areas and backgrounds. This transitioned into a discussion on distinguishing between refugees, asylum-seekers, migrants, and economic migrants in an effort to familiarize participants with common terms and ensure they truly understand the differences between them. The end goal for this section of the program was an understanding of the motives of refugees and migrants coming to this country as a way of battling the biases present within the townships regarding these issues.
The discussion on xenophobia was designed to motivate people to actively prevent its spread within the Western Cape. An example of a group of Liberian women standing together to overthrow corruption was used as evidence that protesting these conventions and perceptions can, and should, be done. Participants, particularly women, were encouraged to stand against violence in any form and to remember to accept people’s differences and work together to coexist in a peaceful community.
If you wish to be part of these ongoing workshops, or see a need for training within your own community, please feel free to contact: ADRO’s office.
LIFE SKILLS
ADRO currently shares the premises with VISIONA INSTITUTE, which focuses on Education Training and Development and has organized a five day workshop on personal development, effective money management, customer relations, professional job seeking skills and C.V. drawing. Their aim is to support the community with basics skills marketable for job opportunities.
ADRO is also working to address the issue of language barriers that occur frequently within the community through additional awareness and programming.
If you know of anyone who wishes to utilize these resources, please contact ADRO.
Visiting the Maitland Refugee Reception Centre

After months of work in preparation, ADRO took to the streets on the 30th March for an after-hours site visit to the Department of Home Affairs Refugee Reception Centre in Maitland. Working together with SCAT & the Black Sash as part of the Community MAP initiative, as the light rapidly faded from the sky the monitors interviewed those waiting in the rain, about to face a long, cold night outside the centre. Night after night here, applicants for asylum-seeker and refugee status sleep in alleyways and parking lots, waiting only for a place in line, and the chance to secure their legal rights.

Who are these people? All interviewed on the night of the visit had come from out of town: seasonal migrant workers and farm labourers of the Northern Province and Piketberg. The phenomenon of seasonal migrant workers in areas like De Doorns, their plight and vulnerability in the larger Western Cape is little understood and poorly researched. Many of these workers, already forced to take off work for these mandatory visits, cannot afford to cover the cost of direct transportation to Cape Town on their daily wages and so must find alternative means.

One such man interviewed that night, originally from Malawi, spent nearly 27hrs by hitching lifts from Northern Cape to renew his asylum-seeker status at the Reception Centre. It is common for these people to travel all day without arriving at their destination before nightfall. If they cannot receive service the next day, they have no choice but to stay for as many nights until they can be seen.

The situation at Maitland is made worse by the absence of any nearby emergency night shelters, so the only option for the most vulnerable segments of the population is to sleep in the open until the centre opens the sheltered waiting area, sometime between 3 and 4am. The problem grows ever more serious for the more vulnerable. Among those forced by necessity to sleep in the alley outside the office, the monitors interviewed a young mother carrying her six-month-old infant, hoping to renew her asylum-seeking status the following day. With no guarantee of shelter or food at the end of the road for the most vulnerable, pregnancy, illness, or disabilities can make such journeys, required under law, almost certainly impossible, if not life-endangering.

The Community Monitoring Programme is ongoing, with further site visits planned in the coming weeks.

Meeting with the Minister of Social Development

This past February 15th, ADRO and other organizations working in the area of social security met the Minister of Social Development at the Older Persons Forum meeting. For ADRO, the most important issue under discussion was providing access to Older Persons Pension Grants, particularly for disabled refugees. ADRO, along with organizations like the Black Sash, was successful in bringing this to the minister’s attention. Other issues raised and discussed were those of foster care, in particular, a shortage of social workers which leads to excessive delays in attending to cases, and the issue of interpreting the controversial section of the Children’s Act regarding visible means of support, especially in the case of refugee children.
As a result the meeting’s discussion, the Minister agreed to attend a follow-up meeting with the organizations working in the Refugee and Children’s sectors, to explore the issues and possible solutions in greater detail.