La Zurza Lives In Extreme Poverty

Poverty, unhealthy conditions, overcrowding, games, alcohol and bachatas, color the life of a neighborhood, where unemployment and lack of opportunity can be a trigger. It is La Zurza, located between the north patio of the Mercado de la Duarte and the banks of the Isabela River. For its inhabitants, the stench coming from the market or the river algae does not interrupt their daily life and they assimilate it like a last generation channel. But the same does not happen with the economic situation.

“We don't have electricity, we don't have water, we don't have a Solidarity card. There are no jobs. There is nothing here. All we do is go hungry and work, ”said Senayda Bosio, 44, who lives with her husband and her five children. She has lived in the area for 12 years.

Zurza is a word that does not appear in dictionaries, it seems to owe its name to the springs or water sources, which were called by the first settlers of this neighborhood under the name of Zurzas, because of their resemblance to one of the spas. southern hot springs that bears this name.

Geography of the area

Together with La Ciénaga and La Barquita, La Zurza forms the trilogy of the most vulnerable, impoverished and crime-prone sectors of Greater Santo Domingo, not only because of its location on the banks of rivers, but also because of its geosocial composition. , and surrounding neighborhoods.

Great greenery surrounds the entire area. In addition, a gigantic stream of earth-colored and polluted waters, attested by the large lilac carpets on both banks of the Isabela.

Five springs or water sources and six streams, form the environment, being La Cañada del Diablo the most notable for its chameleonic colors, (it changes color gradually depending on the chemicals poured into it).

Another is the Cañada de los Dulceros, the most important for its dangerousness, its high degree of contamination and as a plastic collection center, they are part of its environment.

The zurza is divided into seven sub-sectors: Los Coquitos, La Laguna, the La Zurza housing project, Brisas del Isabela, Juan Pablo Duarte, Hoyo de la Zurza and Kilombo (this one with a majority Haitian population).

Its conditions on the ground are very rugged due to its location on the periphery of the Isabela River. The vast majority of the houses are built in the ravines and on the south bank of the aforementioned river. La Zurza is limited to the north; with the Isabela river and the Villa Mella sector. To the south, with Avenida de los Mártires, to the east, with Avenida Duarte and to the west, with Avenida Máximo Gómez.

It has a main two-lane street, Héctor J. Díaz, in poor condition, with sidewalks that are also impassable. Internally it is made up of a labyrinth of alleys interconnected by spiral-shaped concrete steps.

In this habitat there is a school, the Aída Cartagena Portalatin, which arises from the union of several schools, and is the most important educational center (without an extended round). They have a police station and at least three primary care centers, and a sports center that is used occasionally.

“We ask the government to come to our aid. Look where we live, in shacks that can not stand the heat during the day and the cold at night. We need everything, and despite how we live, not even the card that the government gives us, we have it ”, reported Santos Martes Canela, 86 years old.

The dwellings

Four types of houses are observed in this neighborhood. The multifamily (apartment buildings built in the governments of Leonel Fernández and Hipólito Mejia) that are possibly the most exclusive places in the area.

Individual concrete houses, wooden and zinc houses, and finally the tin houses, which are made of metal cans and tanks cut in half, sticks and zinc. It is good to note that its inhabitants built their homes without taking into account any urban regulations, or land. They just wanted a place to survive.

Only 35% of these homes have sanitary services. The remaining 65% use latrines. The living room and kitchen are together only separated from the bedrooms by cardboard, old sheets and other materials. Their trousseau is scarce since many do not have refrigerators or stoves and even cook with firewood extracted from the surroundings.

Their beds more than beds seem to be empty tombs in a cemetery of the forgotten dead, by a political society, and leaders who have other priorities on their development agenda.

Origins

A study carried out by the La Zurza Environmental Sanitation Foundation (Fundsazurza) explains that everything begins in 1950, with population emigration from the southern fields, Cibao and the East, towards the northern part of the city of Santo Domingo, in search of a better quality of life.

Then in the decade from 1950 to 1960 when under the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, to build urban projects

Article Source