It has been three months now that we have been waiting for our stipends from the ministry of education in Namibia. We were supposed to receive our allowances in March, but so far nothing.
We have approached our diplomats on numerous occasions but they were either reluctant to assist or refused to talk to us.
Hence, we have decided to make it public because we have exhausted all diplomatic efforts, and also for the Namibian people back home to know that their sons and daughters are starving.
This problem of money delay has been there since 2003, and it is becoming a habit of the ministry to delay our money or not to send enough each year.
We discussed this problem with the deputy minister of education when she visited Cuba this year, but there is still no change. She assured us that she would do everything possible in her power for us to receive our money on schedule.
But, as you know, Namibian or African politicians are very sweet-mouthed, and nothing has materialized. She didn’t even send us a feedback to the problems we presented to her.
While we are doing everything possible to keep the Namibian flag flying high by scoring good marks, this financial crisis is severely hampering our studies and it can make us fail (we are toward final exams) and repeat the academic year while our motherland is in dire need of engineers and doctors.
Although we are subjected to this undeserved suffering, we are still proud of being Namibians.
And we are committed, determined and optimistic that one day Vision 2030 will become a reality and it is upon our shoulders to make that happen.
Therefore, we are urgently requesting the ministry to send our stipend as soon as possible.
Any comments or suggestions should be forwarded to this e-mail address: namcuba_namibia@yahoo.co.uk
Penda Negonga
President of Namibian Students Union in Cuba (Nasuc)
On Behalf of Namibian Students
E-mail:namcuba namibia@yahoo.co.uk