This arpillera shows the total destruction of the Killarney informal settlement in Zimbabwe in May 2005, during Operation Murambatsvina in which the government of Zimbabwe, deploying the army and police, purposefully destroyed housing around the country. During this Operation, referred to by many as a crime against humanity, an estimated 500,000 people were evicted and displaced in the space of a month. Murambatsvina means “get rid of the filth’ and the poor of Zimbabwe were left with the clear message that they were the filth that should be forced out of urban areas.
The most devastating and immediate effect of this operation was the fact that up to half a million people were rendered homeless and left without any viable form of livelihood. People were told to return to their rural origins, but many simply did not have a rural home to go back to.
The girls from Killarney informal settlement who created this arpillera all lost their homes in 2005. Some suffered deaths of their relatives, and one, the death of her baby, during the demolitions. From conversations held while sewing, Shari recounts: “The girls have no comprehension of what the demolitions were about, and say they think the government was trying to kill people by taking everything away from them….”
Resettlement by the International Organisation for Migration and the Bulawayo City Council took place in due course. However, the location -10km out of town- severely limited their employment opportunities. As Shari explained: “Sources of income remain a serious challenge, and the girls continue to strive against hunger in their efforts to secure the future of themselves and their children.”
The process of creating this arpillera enabled these women to share their stories with confidence and purpose, to audiences far beyond the Killarney settlement, again illustrating the powerful potential of small pieces of work in denouncing repressive actions globally.
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