Arson victims still homeless

Anna Siváková burst into tears when she saw the cramped, two-room shelter that the town of Vítkov assigned to her family.

The Roma family had just lost its home in an apparently racially motivated arson attack April 19. Siváková and her husband, Pavel Kudrik, suffered severe burns that kept them hospitalized in nearby Ostrava for nearly two weeks, while their youngest daughter, 2-year-old Natálka, remained in intensive care, struggling to survive.  

To Siváková, it felt like yet another blow to return to Vítkov after her May 2 hospital release, only to join her husband, three older children, and parents in the crowded, shabby shelter, located behind a veterinary clinic and next to a dog kennel. With its metal-frame bunk beds and no space to move around - let alone allow the children to play or spread out their homework - the place felt, as one family member said, "like a prison."

More than a month later, the family remains at the temporary shelter, unable to find a new home, despite the outpouring of donations to help them rebuild their lives. Due to bureaucratic regulations, the family has yet to receive any of the donated funds, and if certain conditions aren't met, it might never at all.

Officials at the Vítkov town hall, which manages the donations, say legal requirements prevent the family from accessing the money for anything but Natálka's medical care and new accommodation. Moreover, if the family cannot find suitable accommodation by the end of the year, the town council would be required, under law, to relinquish the funds to the north Moravian district offices instead.

Although town officials stress that is unlikely, it's a prospect that some activists find outrageous.

"The account is [meant] only for this family," said Zdeněk Ryšavý, executive director of the Romea nongovernmental organization, which transferred donations from around the world to the public collection managed by Vítkov town hall. To withhold the funds from the family is "not civilized," he said.

Human rights activist Gwendolyn Albert added that it was unheard of for a public collection to be spent on anything other than its intended purpose. "The mere suggestion is insulting to the family and to all of us who donated in good faith that the funds would be used to assist these people," she said.

Not only has her family not seen any of the donated money, Siváková said she was unclear of who was actually managing it.

"I don't know who controls it. Definitely not us," she said, adding that she also did not know how much had been collected. "[Town officials] won't tell us the exact amount."

As it turns out, the collection is now worth some 757,000 Kč, said Hana Klapetková, head of the town's social affairs department. In accordance with the law on public collection, town authorities took charge of managing the collection.

She noted that the family's failure to find a new home is not for lack of effort by town officials.

"We've found multiple suitable locations that they refused because they think the house is either too small or too big. Other times, before they made a decision, another buyer reserved the house," Klapetková said. "The city is helping them out as much as it can."

Šarka Petrtýlová, secretary to the Vítkov mayor, added she was certain adequate housing for the family could be found, either in Vítkov or elsewhere, before the end of the year. If not, she said, the town council would resolve to extend the year-end deadline, which she acknowledged had been established arbitrarily during a hurried meeting earlier this month.

"We didn't really ponder the end date, whether it should be three months from now, so we left it until the end of the year," Petrtýlová said.

Still, she noted that, under the law, the town council needed to set a closing date, after which any unused money must go to the district offices.

Kumar Vishwanathan of the NGO Life Together, who has been in close contact with the family, said he believed the donations will never be transferred to the district offices.

Although he agreed town officials were doing their best to find housing for the family, it hasn't been easy due to opposition from prospective landlords and neighbors, he said.

"I think there's a lot of prejudice against living beside Roma. ? People don't want to live beside a Roma family," Vishwanathan said.

He added that, while he had no objections to the town's management of the donations, the family remains under financial strain, as the parents need money to travel back and forth to the hospital in Ostrava to visit Natálka. According to town officials, the family relies on social security.

"They're going through a lot of expenses right now," Vishwanathan said. "It's a drain of resources for them."

Natálka's father, Kudrik, meanwhile, said his main concern was looking after his injured daughter, who will likely need medical treatment for the rest of her life. State insurance is covering the bulk of Natalka's medical bills.

The perpetrators of the arson attack have yet to be identified. Nevertheless, Kudrik said he would like for his family to remain in Vítkov, where his children attend school. He acknowledged, however, that if no housing can be found within the town the family may have to look for accommodation elsewhere.

"Nothing is clear at this point," he said.

- Martina Čermáková contributed to this report.

Wency Leung can be reached at
wleung@praguepost.com