By Sabina Elago
WINDHOEK– One of the children in the Dolan Children’s Home in Katutura is calling for better support from the government.
The child is particularly unhappy that they are only getting “N$10” from the government while other children she knows are getting up to N$200. The child made her plight heard when some Members of the Children’s Parliament on Sunday visited the Dolam Children’s home to help cook for them and spend some time with them.
The five MPs, Sam Uutoni, Sushmita Mutjavikua, Almut Mathis, Vistorina Kaueva and the Deputy Speaker, Shaandre Fennies, were accompanied by Lizzete Feris the Child Media Officer at Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the SADC Junior Minister of Tourism, Olavi Hangula. They cooked for the children, cleaned the house, handed them constitution booklets and the official report of the 4th session of the Children’s Parliament. “The aim of the day was to cook for the kids at the children’s home and spend sometimes with them to hear their problems,” says Fennies.
After lunch they engaged with the children and invited them to share problems they are facing. A 13-year -old girl raised her hand and when allowed spoke very passionately enquired from the delegation whether they were aware that the government only gives them N$10 while at her school there are other children who receive more than N$200? She felt that it was unfair as she witnessed how expensive it is to raise more than 15 children in one house. Another young girl begs that something needed to be done about a shebeen across their street. “We have a certain time for studying in the house and the shebeen across the street has been a disturbance for us and we are unable to concentrate,” she complained. She felt that they should be closed down as they only benefited certain individuals in the community and not the majority.
When asked what they do when someone provokes them, they opened up and expressed their concern that they do not intend to look weak so they always react to violence when it faces them. The MPs then encouraged them to be supportive of change and to appreciate auntie Rosa (the one responsible for them) and to always aim to make her proud and promised to take up their questions as they do not have the answer for them then.
Fennies said they are planning to go back to the house in the future and they plan to visit an orphage or children’s home at least once a month to not only assist them through the little they have but to also build networks between children and the Children’s Parliament. “It is essential for the youth advisory body to understand and experience the problems of the Namibian children first hand, and only then will we be able to advocate for government to make the lives of the Namibian child easier,” he says. Dolam Children’s home is in Katutura’s Ewa Schumacher Street, Dolam, and there are about 16 children that Rosa Namises is taking care of.