Kirenia with her baby next to her mother
In 2015 I noticed that most of the sheltered people at Máximo Gómez 27 were of African descent. In my last visit, Kirenia points out that, in addition, the majority are women and many of them have children. When will they have an apartment? It seems indeed that very soon, before the end of 2017.
A hope is born In November 2016, Kirenia tried to reach me by phone to tell me a breaking news. The eighth issue of the magazine Identities, where my first article on the shelter was published, had been scanned at the Municipal Government Palace. For that reason, she thought something had happened to me, because we weren’ t in contact since the last interview. Fortunately, nothing has happened to me so far. " Everyone from the shelter went to the Government Palace to complain. We said we were going to occupy an empty building. The president came and stated this shelter is uninhabitable. A meeting was held and they said they were going to get us out of here at the rate of three cubicles a month. Every family would get an apartment. The first cases were Vivian, Alina and a lady who has been here for over twenty years. It should have started by the end of December, but today it ' s the 27 th and they ' re still here." Normally, all the end-of-the-year procedures are difficult. It is understandable that these people did not receive their homes in December 2016, but they will certainly receive them in January or a bit later. For those who have waited decades, one month is not a big deal. If the planned distribution— three cubicles per month— is fulfilled, as it was said at the meeting, it should not take more than six months to grant the apartments for all the people sheltered in the fourteen cubicles at Máximo Gómez 27. At the latest in August there would be no sheltered people here. " The lady who broke into the cubicle next to me was on the brink to be evicted, but the neighbors strongly opposed to it and the officials in charge left. She will be
24