By Emma Kakololo
RUNDU
On Monday, Rundu was blazing with the scorching sun. The temperatures soared close to 40 degrees Celsius. It was not even noon yet, and most of the people in the informal settlement of Ndama, were gathered under the trees, drunk, as they continued to sip the whole day long on their favourite home-brewed concoction, mutoho.
Mutoho or muheturo (when sugar is added) is an alcoholic sorghum beer whose overuse many villagers are battling to overcome.
The Kavango Region has the highest poverty and unemployment rate in the country, accompanied by other social ills such as illiteracy, and most significantly HIV/AIDS not to mention alcohol abuse.
“I like it a lot. I can’t drink tombo. This one is strong,” said 40-year-old Malinus Manda-vera before trying to swallow a mouthful of mutoho, but almost choking on it as some of it escaped through his nose.
Tombo is another home-brewed beer made from not only sorghum but also millet.
Like tombo, excessive use of mutoho can cause serious health problems.
Nevertheless, for the unemployed tuberculosis sufferer Mandavera, mutoho is a very nutritious drink and in fact very cheap.
“This drink makes me full, while tombo makes me want to wee-wee all the time. It (tombo) also takes away my appetite for food.
“One cup of this (400 ml) is only 50 cents. When I don’t have the money, my friends here are always willing to share their drinks with me.
“My problem is I’m sick. I have got this HIV virus in my body,” said 45-year-old Lazarus Mungomba who made no secret of his HIV status as he took out his hospital chart to prove it.
“As you see on my card, today I must go back for my checkups. I got this virus in my body, was feeling very hungry, and decided to pass by for a drink.
“The nurses tell us to eat good food, but we don’t get any assistance. I don’t get enough food to eat because I also don’t have a job.”
Owner of the business Julia Nyemba Thomas’ hands looked as though they were burnt by the chemical content of her concoction.
Every time someone buys a drink, a part of her hand disappears in the liquid, while she tries to stir the brew with the cup in her hand, before finally scooping it full with the liquid.
Thomas was surrounded by four big tanks each 110 litres. She said she makes N$800 daily from the sale.
A United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) researcher Sebastian Levine argues that Namibia’s Vision 2030 will remain a far-fetched dream for as long as the Human Development Index (HDI) is deteriorating.
Levine said at the launch of his report recently that contrary to the vision of Vision 2030, life expectancy has worsened over the years and might take the country more than three decades (by 2045) to reach the levels of 1991 when life expectancy was 61 years.
Life expectancy stands at 49, while 69 is the desired age set by Vision 2030.
According to Levine, this “long-term decline” in life expectancy was pulling down the HDI despite improvements in household income and educational attainment, the other two dimensions of human development.
“Life expectancy is falling because the HIV pandemic is so strong that it more than offsets the positive effects of improvements in the other dimensions of human development,” he said.
In another recent study by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), around 120ǟ