SOUTH AFRICA: Sophia Morris, "Getting a brick house changed my whole life"

Photo: Bill Corcoran/IRIN

Sophia and the children in the creche she was able to start in her new house

CAPE TOWN, 24 November 2008 (IRIN) - Sophia Morris, 36, a former shack dweller living about 15km from Cape Town, South Africa's second city, explains how moving into a brick house, built by an Irish charity, changed her life.

"I lived in a shack with my family in the Imizamo Yethu township [near] Hout Bay for 14 years before getting my home in 2005. Before the Irish volunteers [the Niall Mellon Township Trust] built me and my children this house we had no running water, no bath or shower and the toilet was outside, which was not nice when you had to go in the middle of the night.
 
"I was always worried about fires, and in 2004 my shack burned down in a big fire in the township. I was very depressed because you don't know what you are going to do, or how you were going to replace everything that you have lost.
 
"Even if you tried to re-use some of your things, like pictures, they have changed colour, and are a dirty brown colour because of the burn marks.
 
"But getting a brick house changed my whole life. I knew my children [would be safe]; we have a geyser [water heater] for hot water, and you can sleep at night even if there is wind because it is not so loud, and we have no problems with rain.
 
"Having a house made me very proud, and I was not embarrassed to ask people to drop me off at home, which was something I would never do before. I used to get dropped off at the police station and then walk to my shack.
 
"It [the house] also makes a big difference in the children's lives, as there is a stigma attached when you come from an informal settlement. People think you might be violent or a criminal. People don't say their fears to you, but you can feel it ... so when you have a house [everything is different]!
 
"The house has also let me start my own crèche and that means I can make some money from the people with children who have to go to work every day. It is busy, as some children are dropped off at 5.45 a.m. and some stay here until 7 p.m.  
 
"Now that there are 450 houses in the township the white and black communities get on a lot better. They are not afraid to come into Imizamo Yethu township, even though there are still many shacks at the back against the mountain.  
 
"Some white people from [neighbouring] Hout Bay are also now following the charity's example and building houses for people who work for them, or buying them furniture for their new houses, and that is something very different from the past.
 
bc/oa/he