Obrein Simasiku
Omuthiya-Approximately N$180,000 was received in pledges to the Omuthiya Mayoral Fund at a fundrasing dinner held during the launch of the fund on Saturday at Omuthiya. The pledges were short of the N$300,000 target the town set for itself.
The fund will be used to finance various initiatives for vulnerable children in the town, which had more than 3,000 registered vulnerable children, according to the Governor of Oshikoto Region, Henock Kanksohi. The fund would also finance educational activities and the annual Christmas lunch for senior citizens.
“The magnitude of this problem has strained traditional support systems, thus placing many of these children in critical need of external support. Some of the children have even become heads of families, a responsibility that is hard for them to maintain,” he said during the launch of the fund.
Kanksohi stated that the more than 3,000 children in Omuthiya “are registered as vulnerable and orphans by either having lost one or both parents”.
“Public assistance is required to provide these children with adequate food, healthcare, clothing, education and psycho-social support. Thus assistance of this nature we appreciate for the beneficiaries” added Kankoshi.
The gala dinner was attended by close to 200 people. The idea of the mayoral fund was born as a result of the council in previous years struggling to source enough funds for such purposes, especially with its annual senior citizens’ Christmas function.
“Without senior citizens, we would not be where we are and would never learn from past mistakes. There are many things they have tried and tested and we have come to learn from them what has worked and what did not work for society. Therefore they are anchors in our families and ensure stability in our communities, hence we honour and respect them for their contributions to our society in general,” stressed Kankosi, while encouraging the public to come on board and support the initiative in order to serve its intended purpose.
The Mayor of Omuthiya, Toivo Nghilalulwa, used the opportunity to inform the public that the town council is not standing idle waiting for funds from the government, instead it is pushing on with service delivery in conjunction with the business fraternity.
“An example of this is Extension Six where 180 plots were recently serviced through a public-private partnership agreement for phase one, while another 180 plots will be serviced under the same agreement in phase two,” stated Nghilalulwa.