OMUNDAUNGILO – Despite efforts by the government to ensure the San community access relief food, some members are still suffering from hunger.

When New Era visited Omapundo, located in Omalapapa village in the Ohangwena region, last week, the community requested the government to increase their allocation to at least three bags of maize meal per person.

These communities reside in structures made from discarded plastic sheets and sticks at Omapundo (the common name in Oshiwambo to refer to their settlement) in the Omundaungilo constituency.

Head of Omapundo and oldest member of the community, Ruusa Haihambo (89), said Omapundo is overcrowded and therefore, food is not enough for them.

“I have 13 people in my Epundo. The government is committed to taking care of us, but the food aid is not enough,” she stressed. She applauded the government for ensuring they receive social grant funds.

Last week, this journalist witnessed some members of the San community who had run out of maize meal eating nuts gathered from the forest, from which they made a traditional soup (omwai). A mother of two was found sleeping in an Epundo with nothing to eat because there was no food. Bertha Hendjala explained that her maize meal had run out.

“Sometimes, I go to cuca shops to fetch bottles of water for shebeen owners who then pay me in maize meal. It’s not easy,” she added.

Last month, the deputy minister of marginalised communities, Royal /Ui/o/oo, visited 13 centres of the San community in the Okongo, Oshikunde, Epembe, Omundaungilo and Eenhana constituencies.

The aim of his visit was to educate the San and familiarise himself with the challenges the community faced.

At most of the centres, issues of concern among the community were similar, with key ones being alcohol abuse, high absenteeism among school children, low enrolment in schools, vandalism of infrastructure, and selling of items donated to them as food aid and others. Thomas Hamupunda, who has lived in Omapundo for 40 years, applauded the government for bringing clean water closer to them. “We appreciate our government, but we are still appealing for more maize meal because we are starving,” he said. Hamupunda said they recently received various donations, such as blankets, from certain political leaders.

He said he usually wakes up at 06h30 to go into the bush to collect nuts to feed his family and  he also complained that some people have been stealing their food from the Omapundo.

Hamupunda said he will vote in the upcoming elections scheduled to take place in November, because he receives social grants from the government. Approached for comment, development planner Tomas Puleinge, who is responsible for the marginalised community in the Ohangwena, said his office distributed food to the San community last month.

“We distributed two bags of maize meal per person. We are always committed to ensuring marginalised communities receive food,” Puleinge said. He also said his office faces challenges in catering for the San community because some barter the maize meal for alcohol. – fhamalwa@nepc.com.na