All they want is a home

We walked down the street in the beating hot sun. Zinc plate and cardboard shacks lined the street no bigger that a single bed room. "12 people or so" said an old woman when asked how many people live in such a house. Her face was dry from the hot sun. it looked painfull.

"We heard somebody died yesterday?" asked the senior journalist with me. The woman merely pointed to a man sitting in a chair under the shade. "Thats her husband" she added.

He was stairing emotionlessly at the ground infront of him. One could feel his sorrow even through the barrier we built up to protect us from what we might see.

I was working at a paper a few months ago called the witbank news. We got a call saying a woman died from the cold last night at the RDP housing (goverment houseing). Dozens of people were evicted from houses thaat were unfinished. They moved in illegaly.

But what I saw that day. Even if they were illegal, they did not deserve to be dumped on the side of the road by police and left with nothing.

Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of this story? Or let me know if you have heard anything similar?