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Lonely septuagenarian wishes he had children

Home National Lonely septuagenarian wishes he had children

//Gai//amdeb

He describes his life in only one word, “lonely” and as age catches up with him, he cannot help but ponder how much easier life would have been if he had any children.

Living alone at a resettlement farm about five kilometres from Tses, 73-year-old Johannes Isaak has to look after his own livestock, cook, wash, fetch water and do a multiplicity of chores all by himself.

Narrating his ordeal to New Era, he says for most of his life he lived alone, but as the years go by it is becoming increasingly difficult to do basic chores on his own, as he is not getting any younger.

This, he says, torments him as not a day goes by without him thinking how different life would have been if he had children of his own. He says all his life his wish was to have children, but God did not bless him with any and he now has to struggle alone to overcome the challenges he faces on a daily basis.

“I really wanted to have children of my own, but unfortunately God didn’t bless me with any,” Isaak said.
Most of his family live in Keetmanshoop and he feels somewhat abandoned, because they rarely visit and although he wants to see them his advancing age does not allow him to travel long distances and thus he can not even travel to Keetmanshoop.

He believes life would have been better if he had children, as they would have helped him, especially financially and to look after his livestock.

He says the few goats he has are constantly being stolen due to the long distances they move from the kraal in search of good pasture. Due to his age he cannot keep up with their pace and thus many a times the goats are left alone in the veld, which makes it easier for thieves to grab them.

He further said the persistent drought is forcing him to go into the veld on a daily basis in search of dry grass for the kids to supplement the little milk they get from the nannies, as they are unable to produce enough milk due to lack of grazing.

He says the situation might get worse if the rain does not come soon and he fears losing all his livestock. “It will get worse if we don’t receive rain soon. The remaining goats will die of hunger,” he lamented.

Isaak says he survives only on the old age pension grant of N$1100 per month and is thankful that the government has put in place such a life-sustaining programme, as without the old age pension he would have been entirely destitute, as he does not have anyone to support him.