By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Many orphaned children based in rural areas cannot access welfare grants because they are not in possession of their deceased parents’ death certificates. This is a big challenge, mainly in rural areas where parents die in their villages and are buried right away. Consequently, when children want to apply for orphan grants, they cannot prove that their parents died. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare agrees that there are problems of children in rural areas, especially those in areas bordering other countries. It is said that some cultures demand that a deceased person be buried together with his possessions, which include identity documents. In the Tsumkwe Constituency, whose majority inhabitants are the San and Ovaherero who were resettled from Botswana, the lack of birth and death certificates is a common problem. Both Tsumkwe Councillor Moses Kxao !oma and Chief Justice Uapimbi of the Kambazembi Royal House in Gam say this problem prevents many children from accessing grants. Guardians of orphaned children whose income is less than N$1 000 can claim N$200 for the first child and N$100 for every other child up to six children. Councillor Kxao !oma told New Era yesterday that in the area, many could not afford to travel to Otjiwarongo, Grootfontein or Tsumeb to get their certificates because of transport problems. Tsumkwe is 300 km from the nearest town, Grootfontein, and there is no public transport operating between the different settlements. Additionally, rural people normally do not bother with applying for identity documents. He added that the problem is worse in Gam, where many orphaned children’s parents died in Botswana and could not access their death certificates. Uapimbi, speaking to New Era last weekend, reiterated this by saying that Gam has many orphans who could not be registered for grants because of lack of necessary papers. He said at one point, he was asked to write declarations for such children to the ministry, but was yet to get a response on whether the children would be enrolled for grants. Chief Control Social Worker of the MGECW, Penofina Eises, said yes-terday this was a big pro-blem, which the ministry, in conjunction with the Ministry of Home Affairs, is working on. She acknowledged that many children, especially in regions which are not on the World Food Programme’s food assistance programme, could neither receive the grants without legal documents that prove their identity, nor get other assistance. The food programme is concentrated in the Omusati, Ohangwena, Oshana, Oshikoto, Caprivi and Kavango regions where the majority of the children are orphaned mainly due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. There are about 111 000 children in these regions, with one out of 10 of them having only one parent. “In these regions, children get food assistance in the interim as they wait to be put on the ministry’s grant system, but for other regions, they do not get anything,” she added. So far, close to 65 000 orphans and vulnerable children have been registered from a meagre 9 000 in 2004. Things that are accepted as legal documents to qualify for the grants include death certificates, declarations from traditional authorities and village headmen, baptismal cards and a form designed by the ministry for people to confirm the birth of children. In the meantime, the two ministries are working on a budget to determine how much the campaign in the regions will cost and a schedule for them to announce the dates of their mission to the areas.