Internally Displaced People in Colombia Lack Vital Services
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tumaco is an island off the coast of southern Colombia, just north of the border with Ecuador, and just about one degree north of the equator. It’s a humid, tropical zone and today, while we were visiting a community of displaced people known as Bajo Tuma, the heavens opened up and soaked us to the bone. The community was built around a mangrove swamp and all the sand around us quickly turned to mud. It was amazing how fast the entire town flooded — the sea just rushed into the town.
The conditions in Bajo Tuma are some of the worst we’ve seen. People flee to these swamps since there’s nowhere else for them to go. They then cut down the trees, build stilt houses in the swamp, and build a series of very, very rickety bridges throughout the community to get from house to house and to leave the area. Most houses use plastic sheeting for roofing, which means that during the prevalent rains, water comes into the homes through holes that pop up when anything hits it. We were told that a new “roof” gets holes almost immediately, and people must constantly scrounge for money to replace the plastic.
They also have no fresh water and must rely on an elaborate series of garden hoses that run from public water sources closer to town. Bajo Tuma had one hose to service the entire community of 400 families, and the water often arrives so dirty that residents insist on boiling the water before using it.
Sanitary conditions are abhorrent. In the community of Brisa de los Angeles (translated as Angel’s Breeze), bathrooms are just holes in the floor, which empty out right below the house. Trash is just thrown into the water, but since this is a tidal zone, the water becomes a trashy, fecal stew that floats around beneath the houses. In Bajo Tuma, the people are forced to relieve themselves in plastic bags and throw them into the sea. Since the town floods regularly, excrement and garbage wash right back into town and then spread.
These conditions are prevalent in virtually every community we’ve visited in Tumaco. It raises serious questions in our heads when the government of Colombia says they are tackling displacement seriously. In a community meeting in Bajo Tuma, only four residents were able to claim getting any assistance at all – and it was from the Red Cross. Tumaco’s displaced have been abandoned by their government.
--Sean Garcia
Andrea Lari and Sean Garcia are currently in Colombia assessing the situation with internally displaced persons. Andrea's new report on IDP's "Striving For Better Days" can be found on our website: www.refugeesinternational.org/betterdays
The conditions in Bajo Tuma are some of the worst we’ve seen. People flee to these swamps since there’s nowhere else for them to go. They then cut down the trees, build stilt houses in the swamp, and build a series of very, very rickety bridges throughout the community to get from house to house and to leave the area. Most houses use plastic sheeting for roofing, which means that during the prevalent rains, water comes into the homes through holes that pop up when anything hits it. We were told that a new “roof” gets holes almost immediately, and people must constantly scrounge for money to replace the plastic.
They also have no fresh water and must rely on an elaborate series of garden hoses that run from public water sources closer to town. Bajo Tuma had one hose to service the entire community of 400 families, and the water often arrives so dirty that residents insist on boiling the water before using it.
Sanitary conditions are abhorrent. In the community of Brisa de los Angeles (translated as Angel’s Breeze), bathrooms are just holes in the floor, which empty out right below the house. Trash is just thrown into the water, but since this is a tidal zone, the water becomes a trashy, fecal stew that floats around beneath the houses. In Bajo Tuma, the people are forced to relieve themselves in plastic bags and throw them into the sea. Since the town floods regularly, excrement and garbage wash right back into town and then spread.
These conditions are prevalent in virtually every community we’ve visited in Tumaco. It raises serious questions in our heads when the government of Colombia says they are tackling displacement seriously. In a community meeting in Bajo Tuma, only four residents were able to claim getting any assistance at all – and it was from the Red Cross. Tumaco’s displaced have been abandoned by their government.
--Sean Garcia
Andrea Lari and Sean Garcia are currently in Colombia assessing the situation with internally displaced persons. Andrea's new report on IDP's "Striving For Better Days" can be found on our website: www.refugeesinternational.org/betterdays
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