Itipini News

In May of 2012 we learned of the tragedy of the illegal and unjust demolition of Itipini, a village of 2000 people living on a land fill and garbage dump. The government officials made a choice not to create a relocation plan, this the”poorest of the poor” community of Itipini was scattered as a result of having their homes bulldozed. AIAIA had been supporting a preschool in this village for a year.

This year our delegation was able to find a settlement of 200 of the Itipini villagers living in 29 government housing units, two families per unit, no electricity, 2 working toilets and four water spigots in extremely unsanitary conditions. The day after a visit to this settlement, which has a small leadership team in place lead by a 17 year old woman, the delegation brought much appreciated food parcels for each of the 58 families. One of the elders told us that many people had visited them and never returned, thus attributing to only further deepen the hopelessness of the community.

AIAIA is committed to supporting this community and not further their feeling of abandonment. AIAIA will distribute quarterly a food parcel containing rice, beans, sugar, flour and samp. The second such distribution took place in May of this year. The delegation of 2014 will once again visit during the annual trip to assess further support.