Oshakati
The Oshakati Town Council yesterday showered 35 of the town’s elders with Christmas hampers and treated them to lunch at the town council office.
They were also given mattresses worth N$40 000, which were donated by Zhongmei Engineering. The Christmas hampers were donated by Remind Trading Enterprises.
Speaking at the handover, the mayor of Oshakati Katrina Shimbulu said the partnership to reach out to the elderly is an indication that business has the well-being of the elders at heart.
Shimbulu stressed the importance to support businesses for them to flourish, saying they have a huge impact on society.
Handing over the hampers, Remind Ekandjo of Remind Trading Enterprises promised to continue partnering with the council to reach out to the elderly.
“We will continue to do that [partnering] and next year it will be bigger and better,” Ekandjo emphasised. The outgoing mayor of Oshakati Onesimus Shilunga said the early Christmas celebration was an initiative aimed at ensuring that residents of the town had the chance to get a share of the council’s financial cake. The current mayor Shimbulu said the council would embark on home visits around town, visiting the elderly as well as children-headed households to listen to their plight and subsequently address their challenges.
Shimbulu said the council also plans to use the community to do work around town and reward them with food.
“If you go to Othingo there are papers scattered all over, so if it’s possible we will request people to pick up papers and say for every black bag of refuse one would get a bag of maize,” said Shimbulu.
Shimbulu also assured the elderly who are in debt with the council that their names have been forwarded to the president’s office for a possible exemption from honouring council’s service payments.