After six nights in the cold and without food, New Westminster activist Paul Mulangu says he's dizzy but determined.
No longer physically chained to the door, Mulangu is still camping out in front of the Centre of Integration for African Immigrants to protest the provincial government cutting off funding for the non-profit's jobs program, and the landlord changing the lock and terminating the lease.
"Yesterday, I started getting dizzy and I started losing balance," he said Tuesday morning, appearing to be in good spirits. "It is very painful, but I just program my mind and make it OK. If I achieve something, all of us are going to achieve."
Mulangu said he will decide Wednesday if he will continue his protest for a full 10 days until Saturday.
The province informed Mulangu a year ago that it would be cutting funding in January, citing duplication of services in the area and performance issues under the contract. To help make rent, Mulangu began renting the space for African weddings, funerals and dances, though neighbours said that resulted in loud, all-night parties and visits from the police.
Mulangu declared a bid for New Westminster city council last week and has now started collecting signatures for a petition asking all levels of government to "save the Centre of Immigration."
Since Tuesday afternoon, Mulangu's petition has garnered 60 names, some from the centre's users and the New Westminster African community, some from passersby and some from the neighbouring condo where several noise complaints against the centre have originated.
Since the government cut funding in January, the centre has fallen almost $40,000 behind in rent. In 2010, the centre received a $278,000 federal stimulus grant, and Mulangu took out a matching loan to pay for upgrades to the centre including a kitchen, showers and washrooms, a meeting room and a gym.
Mulangu said he will be on the hook for the loan if he cannot secure more funding for the centre. The landlord has said Mulangu's renovations will likely not work for new tenants and will have to come out, though Mulangu rejects that, saying the building sat vacant for years before he put the improvements in.
"Meanwhile I'm going to be bankrupt. I'm a single dad with two kids coming from Africa to say Canada is a land of opportunity, and I become bankrupt," he said.
Mulangu said if his protest fails, his last idea is to hold one more protest at the centre on Oct. 26 - the date the landlord says he must have the centre's belongings removed by.
"I'm going to call people to come en masse to protest about that," he said.
Oddly enough, Mulangu said his sit-in protest has given him a chance to peacefully observe and reflect, while sitting outside surviving only on water and tea that supporters have brought for him.
"I've never felt so free as the time I've spent sitting here. I discover so much. I learn so much. For eight years, I've never had a vacation. It's always go, go, go, solving problems. This is the first time I've ever just sat and watched," he said.
Mulangu was preparing to leave his post temporarily on Tuesday night to attend an all-candidates meeting in Queensborough, though he said he plans to return.
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