Lahja Nashuuta
OMITARA – Situated in the Okorukambe constituency is a settlement called Omitara, which is home to 25-year-old Aron April and 1 000 others.
Here, poverty levels are visible to the naked eye, and April finds himself between a rock and a hard place as he attempts to break this cycle within his family and community.
April passed his matric exams with flying colours, and was admitted to the International University of Management’s Walvis Bay campus. However, financial constraints and a failure to secure accommodation and transport fees left him with no choice but to put his studies on hold, and return to Omitara in the Omaheke region.
He is currently staying with his single mother, who is a sole breadwinner, and his three other siblings in a two-bedroom shack.
April’s story is all too familiar to most of the youth in Omitara.
Many here have lost hope.
Narrating the settlement’s issues, Simantha Gaoases, who was born and bred in Omitara, said most of the youth have turned to drug and alcohol abuse due to a lack of jobs.
While many rely on government grants for survival, she worries that the same money is used to buy alcohol, defeating the intended purpose of improving living conditions.
Other issues confronting Omitara’s residents head-on daily include water scarcity, and a lack of sanitation.
These and other reasons are why the youth here hosted their first meeting in a series of planned meetings last Friday, with the aim of establishing the Omitara Youth Organisation.
Gabriel Eigowab, the youth coordinator and the brain behind the envisioned forum, told New Era that the forum intends to bring the voices of youth into settlement planning and decision-making, accelerate youth development, and ensure that youth are mainstreamed into economic development opportunities.
The forum further intends to create social cohesion by creating work-readiness programmes, creating job opportunities, and assisting the youth in acquiring adequate education.
Eigowab revealed that the forum, which will cater for all eligible youth from the Omitara and Otjivero settlements, will focus more on youth matters pertaining to education, health, poverty and unemployment, youth empowerment, social support and agriculture.
Their structure is not intended to be a duplicate of existing youth development programmes, but rather to be an extension to create collaboration platforms to ensure youth empowerment.
“The forum will work hand-in-hand with other already-established organisations in local government, NGOs and the business community within and outside Omitara,’’ he stressed.
The young people who attended were both excited and eager to hear more about the development prospects and programmes.
At the heart of the organisation’s creation is ensuring sustainable development for the youth of Omitara.
Education
Otjirevo Primary School principal Paulus Nunuheb indicated that with 65% of the population being youth, most are illiterate and unemployed as there is only one combined school, which ends with grade nine.
He added that due to financial constraints and the high rate of school dropouts, only a few youths from the two settlements managed to further their studies.
However, Eigowab said once established, their forum will advocate for and establish a trust fund to assist the youth with registration and other financial needs.
Furthermore, the organisation intends to source resources to build a library for the benefit of the youth.
With regard sto poverty eradication and job-creation, the organisation intends to create income-generating projects such as home gardens, chicken and egg projects, brickmaking and bakeries, amongst others.
The launch was attended by Omaheke governor Pijoo Nganate, Omaheke Regional Council chief regional officer Pecka Semba and Okorukambe constituency councillor Rocco Nguvauva.
The Omitara youth pleaded with the government to assist them with start-up capital to set up income-generating agricultural projects such as gardening and fishing at the settlement.
On his part, Semba welcomed the youth initiative, stating that such a forum is long- overdue, as there is currently no formal youth forum or proper communication channel in the area.
He then urged the youth to draft proposals, policies and recommendations for tackling key issues facing them in the area.
(Omitara)