OKANKOLO - Germanbased charity organisation, Soul food Namibia and Mwakotoka Community Development Project (MCDP) donated two classrooms, a storeroom and two toilets for a kindergarten in Oluundje village on Friday. Okankolo constituency councillor, Hans Nambambi thanked the two groups and urged more local companies to assist local communities to better their lives.
Oluundje village headman and member of MCDP, Isak Hamatwi urged the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture to approve their application to establish a primary school next year. “Our village has 171 homesteads with over 200 children who walk long distances to the nearest schools,” said Hamatwi. He noted that the new building would cater for 23 children. “We joined forces in 2020 to build a kindergarten, and MCDP donated N$10 000 while Soulfood Namibia donated N$600 000 to establish this kindergarten,” he said.
Soulfood Namibia is a small non-profit-organisation that provides financial support to communities in need, which springs from applying for benefits by governmental institutions and collecting donations privately. Hamatwi said apart from this project, Soulfood Namibia also supplied water tanks, cleared the road, and fenced the land for the centre. He however expressed concern about water scarcity in his village due to low water pressure. “A lot of people have adapted to drinking water from boreholes and traditional wells, but it causes diarrhoea in some,” said Hamatwi.
He said some people get water from Ontana which is situated 15 kilometres away. “We need at least two water points and a big pipeline to increase the water pressure because the village is big,” Hamatwi said. Oshikoto acting deputy education director, Gornu Nakale expressed appreciation to the village for mobilising funds to meet the government halfway.
“Coming up with this initiative is highly recommendable, so a lot of rural villages can also use this model to improve their villages,” he said. Nakale said the building will also be used by health care givers when they visit the village, as well as old age grant distributors.
- Nampa