Kinney Ndopu
Katima Mulilo – The Adventist Development Relief Agency, an arm of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, donated food hampers to 110 households on Friday, particularly stateless Angolans from Katima Mulilo’s locations.
According to ADRA country director Wilfred Luyanga, the pressing need for the hunger crisis in Katima Mulilo among families of displaced persons necessitated the donation through sponsorship of N$77 000 from the Global Fund for Jesus, another arm of the SDA church, based in South Africa.
Among others, the food hampers included 10kg Top Score maize meal, flour, cooking oil, tinned fish, 2kg sugar and rice.
“We have been running a programme here in Zambezi, called Covid-19 food security recovery project, which ended this July – and this initiative is to supplement that programme. During Covid-19 we realised that there are some stateless people, especially those who had come from Angola,” ADRA board chairperson Moses Muyunda said.
“We, therefore, call on government and the business community to join hands with ADRA Namibia as they endeavour to reverse the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic among the vulnerable households,” said Muyunda.
He added the intervention is aimed at assisting about 660 beneficiaries from 110 households.
“It is hoped that through this intervention, they will at least be fed for a day. While more sustainable interventions are being worked out to help them feed themselves for a lifetime,” said Muyunda.
Aside from feeding hungry communities, ADRA has had a scheme of empowering peasant farmers with skills and seeds on an annual basis.
To fight unemployment among Namibians, 24 young people benefited from the ADRA skills programme and are actively contributing to economic development.
* Kinney Ndopu is an intern at the Ministry of Information Zambezi regional office.