By Surihe Gaomas OKAHANDJA The close to 300 children of the Five Rand Primary School were all smiles after the recent donation they received to help them keep their environment clean at all times. With the donation of a huge orange skip container by the GreenCrisp Farming Company, the children will now have a facility for throwing away rubbish and so rid the area of the social problem of littering that has become a major problem at the squatter settlement of the Five Rand Community. Since the school was estab lished a year ago, donations have been coming very slowly, forcing the school management and children to make do with very few. Speaking at the handing over ceremony yesterday, the principal of the school, Victor Nakapandi, said the gesture was highly appreciated by the school in light of the numerous challenges it faces on a daily basis. “We are very grateful for the skip and now, we can collect all the rubbish in and around the school yard. But we need more classrooms, books, sport materials and educational materials”, said Nakapandi. He urged other companies to donate whatever they can to assist in educating the over 300 children of the poverty-stricken Five Rand Community at the school. The mayor of Okahandja, Christofine Paulus, commended the GreenCrisp Farming Company for the kind gesture and encouraged other businesses to follow suite. “Their supply of the container is very important and it is in line with what the school of Five Rand Camp needed. It is good that investors in our town take a leading exemplary role of developing our town,” explained the Mayor, adding that developing the town is a collective effort for the social upliftment of the town’s residents. Littering has become a major problem in squatter settlement areas like the Five Rand Camp. The latest donation will help maintain environmental cleanliness and hygiene. “Schools are the institutions which should teach hygiene in all their settings and is necessary that such hygiene extends to our homes after school hours,” said Paulus. She added that littering is a bad habit and all the learners and teachers should by all means make proper use of the skip container and protect it from vandalism and abuse. On its part, the Green-Crisp Farming Company’s owner Anton Koekemoer said he was informed about one of the school’s needs in the Five Rand Camp and decided to lend a helping hand through the skip container. Recent incidents like that of the polio outbreak have further heightened the alert for people to live in cleaner and healthy environments, as a dirty environment breeds diseases like polio. Thus the need for collecting the heaps of garbage around the school is a priority in this regard. “As you know, there has been a polio outbreak in the country due to unhealthy conditions, so I hope this skip will contribute to a safer and healthier community and school”, said Koekemoer. The handing over ceremony ended with six school children receiving cash prizes for the creative drawings for a logo for Green-Crisp Farming Company. These prizes ranged from N$50 right up to the winning prize of N$500. The audience was then entertained with lively cultural performances from the Five Rand School Choir.