Otjimbingwe
One hundred and seventeen (117) houses at Otjimbingwe settlement in Erongo Region received electricity through a rural electrification scheme at a cost of N$2.5 million.
Otjimbingwe is situated 60 kilometres south of Karibib. “It has been 44 years without electricity, but now we can see development is really coming to Otjimbingwe,” said 44-year-old Otjimbingwe resident and dressmaker, Riparua Kahiurika.
Kahiurika could not hide her joy when Erongo Governor Cleophas Mutjavikua pressed the green button to finally shine light into her matchbox-house on Wednesday. Mutjavikua, who was accompanied by Erongo Red CEO Robert Kahimise, switched on the transformer currently supplying electricity to the 117 houses at the sleepy but historic settlement.
Kahiurika is one of the 117 residents who, thanks to Erongo Red’s effort, can finally put the candles aside and become an electricity consumer like many others at Otjimbingwe.
Not discouraged by the rising and rather expensive cost of electricity, Kahiurika enthusiastically told New Era she cannot wait to acquire electrical household equipment for her family. She runs a dressmaking business and she says with the electrification her life would be so much easier in terms of her trade. Kahiurika says due to the fact she did not had electricity and also lives about 7 kilometres from Otjimbingwe, she has had to go to a relative’s house to make her dresses.
“Imagine now with electricity at my own house I don’t need to do this [commuting] anymore and I am now thinking of getting an electrical machine to make the dresses,” said Kahiurika while being pictured with her children and grandchildren in front of their small house at Otjimbingwe. She lived with her parents while growing up at the settlement. In total, Otjimbingwe has 1019 electricity consumers.
“I was schooled in Otjimbingwe and used to study by candlelight,” she says while laughing. She used to collect firewood almost every day with other children for household purpose. “We used to cook outside with firewood and sometimes we will use self-made oil lamps to study when there is no candles, but finally electricity is here,” further said the dressmaker. “y children don’t need to study under candlelight anymore. Our lives will become easier than they were. Thanks to the government and Erongo Red we can even start businesses in Otjimbingwe now,” she says.