Aletta Shikololo

There is deep sadness, coupled with frustration that people, especially young women, keep getting missing in the country, a motive that pushed journalist and blogger Rosalia Hipondoka to start a Missing Person Unit platform to assist the government in finding missing people in the country.
The platform was co-founded by musician Top Cheri, recording artist CHANA, as well as an advocate of change Sigourney Hoses.
Youth Corner had a chat with Hipondoka, who said she introduced the idea after they created a WhatsApp group to help find Shannon Darlikie Wasserfall, who is still missing to date.
“I felt the necessity to introduce the unit, as I noticed the number of missing individuals increasing every day,” she said. 
The unit has so far helped, with the consent of family members, advocate for more than five people safely return to their families.
According to Hipondoka, the initial aim of the unit is to advocate for missing individuals in and around the country. If you have been keeping track of her social media, mainly her Facebook and Twitter pages, you would notice Hipondoka’s advocacy for missing persons comes a long way.
“I’ve created this safe space around me, where people would contact me and inform me of a missing person, and I’d share the information with my colleagues after obtaining consent from the family members”, she added.
“I encourage young Namibians to always be open to help one another and check up on one another. Our society is unsafe, and a lot of young people go missing without a trace. Such news barely makes headlines – and with our page, both on Instagram and Twitter, at least we are pushing this to let people know about those who are still missing in our country,” explained Hipondoka.
“Shannon is still missing and we shall not stop advocating for her and the rest of the missing people; #bringourpeoplehome” she concluded.  – ashikololo@nepc.com.na