Pollen Eixab
Considering Namibia’s worsening socio-economic climate, Simon Shaalukeni Hadula founded the Hadula Charity Foundation (HCF), a non-profit organisation that caters to the needs of Namibia’s most vulnerable communities.
The foundation, which was established in 2020, has two branches: in Windhoek and Rundu.
It positions itself to improve the lives of ordinary Namibians who do not have the means to overcome the social problems in which they find themselves.
“We stand for social justice and equity for social privileges. Our pillars extend to working together as an organisation with an aim of fighting to overcome different social problems, such as teenage pregnancy, abortion and baby dumping, alcohol and drug abuse, gender-based violence, rape, depression and suicide,” he told Youth Corner.
Their work extends to caring for the elderly.
“We offer counselling, motivation, emotional support and financial management skills,” said Hadula, adding that on top of that, they do the elderly’s laundry and donate clothing, mattresses and stationery to school-going children.”
Finding it important to engage with the youth, Hadula noted Namibia is nothing without its young people, and that the problems faced by these communities affect them most.
“The future holds nothing without us,” he said, while also bringing into focus how politics has a big role to play when people are disenfranchised.
He said despite political affiliations, bureaucracy cannot dictate the quality of life.
He stated: “It does not matter what political party you support; social issues stretch across these barriers and require all parties involved to put aside the infighting and help where they can”.
Not without its struggles, Simon admits that his organisation has found difficulty coming up with the necessary funds and resources needed to run a non-profit.
The HCF organisation does not have offices at the moment, which creates problems as far as storing the donations they receive or having a base where they can properly organise their paperwork.
Hadula’s plans for the future of the organisation include taking the charity nationally.
“We want to provide our services throughout Namibia,” he enthused.
The HCF organisation also plans to look for donors – be it private or government.
“We have submitted letters to bodies (agencies) of government, asking for assistance. If government or any organisation can meet us halfway, we will make a lot of difference,” he said. - polleneixab@gmail.com