Nicole Asino
Fikile Simposi, a resident of Swakopmund, will never forget the day she was told that she would be receiving electricity from the TIDRET project.
This life-changing event brought unending joy to the community but more so to her family of two.
Until recently, Simposi was an unemployed housewife, but everything seems to be going in her favour of late, as she will be starting a new job soon. “God has not forgotten me. I have been staying in the federation’s [Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia] house without electricity for two years now, but now we have electricity. In addition, I will start a new job in the coming days. No words can explain the joy in my heart.”
Days and nights were long without electricity, she said. They would use other people’s fridges to store meat and charge mobile phones and this includes doing laundry. This did not come cheap though. She said she would pay N$100 for a batch of laundry and N$2 to charge her phone, which has a battery life of about 2-3 days before having to go back. “I am extremely happy that I can now use my fridge for my meat, do my laundry and charge my phone. I can now say that I have everything at home.”
Life before electricity also meant when her house would run out of gas, they would have to make a fire outside. “In Swakopmund, it is hard because firewood is hard to come by, so we had to opt for pallets but that was a struggle, or we needed to fork out more money to buy wood,” she said.
“My husband is very happy too.” She said gone are the days they would wake up and look for matches. Now it is just a click of a button and then there is light.
“Gone are the days I do laundry with my hands which brings me blisters and bleeding hands. My hands can rest now.”
Simposi said they are equally excited for the next batch of people who are yet to receive electricity. She urges them not to give up hope and reminds them of how long they waited for these houses. “We waited for 17 years for these houses, until we finally got them. Just be patient. It will come.” “To the partners who made this possible, thank you for all your efforts and to Erongo Red that allowed the TIDRET project to put electricity for us.”
The Towards an Inclusive Design of the Renewable Energy Transition Project (TIDRET) is led by the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) under the environment ministry as an initiative of the Climate Change and Inclusive Use of Natural Resources Project (CCIU-EU), which is administered by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Its objectives include developing gender-sensitive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) projects, promoting climate action (adaptation and mitigation), and facilitating stakeholder dialogues for climate investment. Additionally, it aims to promote solar electrification in legally recognised Namibian businesses. The EIF was established by Act 13 of 2001, to support sustainable natural resource use, carrying on this legacy. * Nicole Asino, Corporate Communications Officer, Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia.