OMEGA 1 – Despite the difficulties of securing a decent meal daily to feed their impoverished households in the face of minuscule resources, the San community at Omega 1 in Kavango East expressed gratitude towards the government for providing them drought relief food.
Living within Bwabwata National Park, the community depends on cultivating fields for grains to survive and the little they have among themselves to make it through the day.
A youth of Omega 1, James Smit, with a minimum education background, said they are faced with a food security crisis, as they did not get any harvest from their crop fields due to poor rainfall experienced this year.
He said they find it hard to survive, as food supplies have become challenging.
The community said they spent months waiting anxiously for relief.
“We used to receive drought relief food after three months. We last received food from the government in April. We have been finding it difficult to survive, as it’s not easy to get a meal around here.
“People are unemployed, and there are no job opportunities. However, we are grateful for the food aid even though food items don’t come monthly. We really appreciate what the government is doing for us, as the San community so that we can share these meals during the difficult times,” Smit said.
Another beneficiary, Dorina Ndjangara, a young mother, said, “We cultivated and planted mahangu, but we got disappointed by the poor rainfall. Therefore, this drought relief food is helping us to survive”.
The marginalised community said they receive five bags of 10kg of maize meal, two litres of cooking and canned beef.
The community said they wish to get income-generating projects to uplift the youth.
However, despite the social and economic setbacks the youth face, they vowed to cast their votes on 27 November.
“We really appreciate what the government is doing for us. We will go and vote,” Smit asserted.