Mozambique: Picking up your relatives fleeing insurgents halfway along the road
Accommodation centre for the needy in Quelimane's Icidhua neighbourhood. [Photo: DW]
Disadvantaged elderly people have been left without food and water at an accommodation centre in Zambezia province, central Mozambique, since December last year. Since then, they have been ignored by authorities.
Disadvantaged elderly people have been abandoned in accommodation centres in the Ichidua neighbourhood outside the capital of Zambezia province by municipal authorities since December last year.
The elderly are living with nine other families with visual, physical and hearing deficiencies in homes built by Quelimane Municipal Council in partnership with international cooperation partners.
They say that, since they got accommodation in the homes, they have received no further assistance from the authorities, and lack food, clothing and other basic necessities.
“We have been left here in the centre, but we face lack of water and food. We are suffering and, if it carries on, we won’t survive. We were left here last year because we are sick, ” Vitorino José, one of the residents, complains.
Sabrina Socovinho is in the same situation. “The situation here is only one of hunger. We have nothing to eat. With my age what am I to do?” she asks.
According to Anifa José, who also lives in the centre, the only solution found to their hunger has been the leaves of the cassava produced in the place.
“I do not know how we survive. We do not have water. We are suffering a lot. They took us from where we were and left us here without flour to eat.”
Another resident, Zecas Dramusse, demands a response from the authorities. “We are suffering here. We have no food and no water. I am blind: I cannot go out alone to ask for alms from the social action and the municipal council,” he complains.
Efforts are being made
DW contacted Costa Amado, the councillor for Women’s Health and Social Action at the Quelimane City Council, but he declined to be interviewed on the grounds that he was not authorised to do so by the mayor of Quelimane.
Institute of Social Assistance of Quelimane (INAS) delegate José Amora however said that efforts were being made to mobilise resources to be distributed after analysing the situation.
“In order for the households to benefit from Ministry of Gender and Social Action the programmes, one has to be poor. In the basic subsidy programme, we are assisting elderly people with disabilities and chronic diseases, children and heads of households,” he explained.
“First, the person has to be identified as indigent in the community,” Amora said. “For the elderly person, the framework is in progress. We are identifying new cases to see if, next year, we will be able to accommodate them,” he added.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.