ZIMBABWE: The people edged cautiously towards the pick-up truck from among the ruins of their homes, then peered nervously inside to see if we had brought aid or the police.
But once they saw Trudy Stevenson - the Movement for Democratic Change's (MDC) MP for Harare North - sitting in the back seat they visible calmed and asked her if she had brought the blankets.
"The blankets are coming this afternoon," she told them. "We came this morning to make sure there are no police checkpoints on the road, so the truck can get through."
Last week the Zimbabwean army and police entered the large informal settlement at Hatcliffe on the outskirts of Harare with bulldozers, and either burnt to the ground or flattened the 3,000 homes on the land.
The action was part of the government's Operation Restore Order campaign, an ongoing crackdown on dozens of informal settlements across the country that began more than two weeks ago.
Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, says the campaign is designed to clean up the country's urban areas and eradicate a flourishing black market that has arisen as a result of the economic crisis gripping the country.
But the opposition party, the MDC, rubbishes the very thought of such a claim, maintaining the real reason behind the campaign is to punish the urban poor who voted en masse for the MDC in the recent general election.
Since the destruction of the Hatcliffe settlement - which was a large sprawling community of between 12,000 and 15,000 people - the residents have been living in fear amongst the ruins of their makeshift houses.
They have no shelter, running water, electricity and very little food. To further increase the levels of hardship, the local school and the medical clinic were also closed down during the operation.
As we drove into the remains of the community, the people's possessions were piled up on the sides of the dirt track road next to where their homes once stood.
Filthy babies lay amongst mounds of burnt wood and rubbish while their parents sat listlessly next to them, too traumatised to worry about issues like hygiene.
When we stopped in the middle of the settlement, Alex Nhema made his way towards our car.
When I asked what had happened he said angrily that the police had destroyed everything while keeping the people away at gunpoint.
"They were very aggressive and violent and told us all that we had to take down our homes and leave this place. They said they would come back, and if any of the houses were put back they would burn all the possessions inside.
"They have done this because we voted for the MDC in the election." Stevenson says few of the non-governmental organisations based in Zimbabwe have responded to the humanitarian crisis that has materialised as a result of the government's latest policy.
Until the weekend she was "unable to identify a single NGO or other organisation prepared to help, apart for one church", she said. Since then one NGO has come on board to assist, but only as long as the organisation's anonymity is protected.
"All of the organisations are afraid to help because they believe that Mugabe will expel them from the country if they do," she said.
She insisted the Hatcliffe settlement had not been illegal - in fact, the people who built their makeshift shacks leased their plots from the government at a cost of ZWD$100,000 a year, about €5, she said.
"The World Bank even paid for the sewage and water services to be put in - look, you can see the remains of the piping on the ground," she said, pointing to the concrete pipes strewn everywhere. Although police ordered residents to leave following the destruction of the settlement, the majority have not done so. Instead, they sit and wait for whatever is going to happen next.
"I don't have anywhere to go," explained Nhema.
"So I will stay here where my home was. We were told that the police would take us to some place, but then they told us to go back to where we came from I am from here."
Before we get back into our truck Stevenson had one piece of news for the large crowed, news that could be considered relatively good in the circumstances.
"If the police or the army come again and start to cause trouble you must go to the church near here.
"You will be safe there, I think, it's a church. If they come you must ring me straight away," she told them.
As we drove back towards the main road to Harare, a platoon of the government's youth militia - known as the Green Bombers - passed us by, moving in the direction of the Hatcliffe settlement.