Children stampede for reading material at the Chingwizi transit camp. Most of the kids had their schooling disrupted due to the displacement. Credit: Davison Mudzingwa/IPS

By Davison Mudzingwa
MASVINGO, Zimbabwe, Jun 26 2014 (IPS)

When the Tokwe-Mukosi dam’s wall breached, so started the long, painful and disorienting journey for almost 18,000 people who had lived in the 50-kilometre radius of Chivi basin in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo province as even those not affected by the flood were removed from their homes.

The community was relocated to Chingwizi, an arid terrain near Triangle Estates, a sugar cane farm and ethanol project jointly owned by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

IPS was one of the few agencies able to visit the site and speak to the displaced.