By Clemence Tashaya
EENHANA – The Ondangwa branch of Build It has donated N$20,000 to the SOS children’s village in Ondangwa vowing to continue heeding the call by the government to plough back and invest in corporate social responsibility programmes.
Built IT Floor Manager for Ondangwa, Joe Shipa called on other Namibian companies to plough back to the communities especially to the less privileged and vulnerable children. The SOS Children’s villages Namibia was founded in 1984, the year when the first SOS Children’s village in Windhoek opened. The Ondangwa SOS Children’s village now takes care of more than 500 orphans and vulnerable children between the ages of two months to 13 years. Some are still in day care while the rest are in school.
However, SOS Village Manager, Haufiku Serbaber, is calling on other companies to assist with donations to provide the children with food and clothes. The cash donated by Build IT will be used towards their trip and camping in Swakopmund. “We will be travelling for camping to Swakopmund and this has been at the invitation of the Namibia Scripture Union (NSU) when 275 vulnerable children from various kindergartens and schools will meet for camping. Part of the money donated by Built IT will be used for this tour and camping.”
Although the children are registered with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, and receive monthly grants, Serbaber says this is not enough to cater for all the needs and management of the village, hence his call for the corporate world to sponsor some of the projects. The village helps children who are at risk, regardless of race, nationality or religion by giving them a family and permanent home and a sound basis for an independent adult life. “Due to shortage of foreign donor funds and the 50% percent cut-off on their 2014 budget, we find ourselves struggling to attend to each child’s needs. Therefore, we request our local business communities to render their support to our Namibian child’s need,” Serbaber pleads.
Meanwhile, the Village Manager says among the programmes and activities that need to be implemented at the children’s village are first aid training for SOS employees. The estimated cost of this training is N $ 15 000 including transport and accommodation. Apart from that they need funding in Psycho-therapy assessment for their 20 children with difficult behaviours and this will cost N $ 60 000. Speech therapy for three children, which will cost N $ 20 000 while they also need 60 single mattresses and bus for logistical purposes. However, the members of staff at the village thanks organizations and individuals who supported and contributed in kind, financially and who gave moral support to the orphans and vulnerable children under SOS Ondangwa such as New Era Publications, Standard Bank, First National Bank, Bank Windhoek and Nedbank. Other SOS children’s villages are in Omusati and Tsumeb in the Oshikoto region.