Paulus Shiku
ONESI – A starving family of 27 people in Osheedhiya village of Onesi Constituency was discovered last week by constituency councillor Titus Kanyele. As drought wreaks havoc across the country, Kanyele
says Onesi is the hardest hit in Omusati Region.
“We are the worst, the majority of my people sleep on empty stomachs,” says he. Statistics provided by
the councillor indicate that those in dire need of food in Onesi are 13 691 from 2 533 households.
These are from a total population of 16 000 across the constituency. “Even me speaking here, I did not produce mahangu in the past two years, I only buy; now think about the ordinary person.”
“People say maybe we are lying but this is the actual situation we are sitting with.” The politician was awoken by health officials and teachers at a local school that some children from the family of meme
Veronika Mweyako Shipena at Osheedhiya are malnourished due to a lack of food.
He visited their house to discover that of the 27 members, six are children above the age of five who attend school.
Twelve children are babies below the age of four, some of whom are suffering from malnutrition.
The remaining nine members are unemployed parents who are the mothers and grandmothers of the
children. Kanyele says the family just survive on tomatoes they get in exchange for their labour at
local vegetable gardens. They also weave traditional baskets to sell and buy maize meal which is not enough.
“I did not have much money so I only managed to buy them a small bag of maize flour that day, as my heart was at pain when I looked at the starving babies,” Kanyele expressed.
The councillor reveals there is no man in the house as he is working at a cattle post in Oshikoto Region.
“We also discovered that none of these people were registered for drought relief and most of the children and mothers do not have birth certificates.”
Kanyele says he was informed that Angolan men who were herdsmen around the village fathered most of
the children.The men are now suspected to have returned to Angola and do not support their kids anymore. “We managed to register the family to receive food whenever it is available. I also contacted the Red Cross Society office in Windhoek that availed a bag of clothes to be given to the family.”
The politician stated that the Red Cross also promised to assist the family should there be resources
at their office. He registered a concern that there is still no food available at the Omusati Regional
Council warehouse for the starving people in the region.
According to him, drought food is yet to arrive in the region.
C o u n c i l l o r Kanyele who is also a Member of Par l i ament r e p r e s e n t i n g Omusati, welcomes
a n y su p p o r t towards this family and requests good Sama r i t ans to contact him in this regard