Destruction at Dam Village, Nairobi – Call for action - On Wednesday 11 June, some participants from the Get Organised for Human Rights programme were take to Dam Village, Kangemi, Nairobi. There they met and learned from the Dam Village community about the destruction of the village. On 9 May 2008, in the middle of the night, a demolition force entered the village, and without any warning, forced people out of their homes, destroyed community buildings and homes, thus rendering 300 women, children and men homeless. “We need your solidarity” said Mr Stephen Shipanzi, Chairman of Dam Village.

Photos: left - destruction of homes; centre - defying evictions, children continue school despite destruction of school building; right: Participants of the Get Organised Programme share stories with the Dam Village Residents

In an exchange with the community, Shereza Sibanda, of Inner City Resource Centre an activist on housing rights in South Africa, Maria Odusanwo Community organizer working with the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) in Nigeria, Ludo Horemans of the European Anti Poverty Network, Mohan Chavan and Maju Varghese of Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action in Mumbai India and Julie Wong of Permas – Malaysia engaged in housing rights of the urban poor shared the stories of forced evictions in their countries and urged all affected communities to unite across national boundaries to end forced evictions globally.

Identifying with the plight of the community and concerned by the situation, participants and organisers of the Get Organised for Human Rights programme wrote letters to the Ministers for Housing and Land, the area MP, Minister of Local Government and the District Officer calling for urgent action including to: investigate these actions at Dam Village on 9 May 2008; take legal action against all those who were responsible for the eviction; and compensate community members for the full cost of the damage that has been done. To read the full text of the letter CLICK HERE >>>