By Mbatjiua Ngavirue
Otjiwarongo
Social workers from the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Otjiwarongo face a number of challenges in providing services to orphans and vulnerable children – with a lack of resources being the main one.
They briefed members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development on the situation in the region last week.
Social Worker, Louise Damases, told the delegation the main activities of her ministry were to provide counselling, to carry out community work and to arrange foster placement.
The ministry, however, had to cover a vast area but lacked the transport needed to perform the job effectively.
For foster placement, they needed to compile evidence before they could take a case to court, but lacked the necessary computers and printers to carry out the job properly.
Most people in the region do not have national identity documents, preventing them from applying for maintenance grants. She said the problem is less serious in Otjiwarongo, but posed a major problem in towns such as Okakarara and Otavi where there are no Ministry of Home Affairs offices.
People in these towns often struggle to feed themselves from one day to the next, and can therefore not think about spending money for transport to Otjiwarongo to go and apply for national documents.
With regard to places of safety for the OVC, Damases said most caregivers they find are elderly people.
“To place six children with an old person who is already suffering, places a heavy burden on that person,” she said.
Often people simply bring an OVC baby to the ministry, but the ministry has no formula or clothing to feed and sustain the infant, because government does not budget for such items.
Regional Councillor Vetaruhe Kandorozu supported Damases’ statement, saying formula is a real problem and must be included in the budget of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Colleague, Welma Ames, told the committee that the ministry planned to deploy 15 social workers, plus 2 volunteers in the region.
The government had, however, issued a directive transferring all statutory cases to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW) by August 1, 2007.
That would mean MGECW would have to employ more social workers to cope with the additional workload.
“The problem is that Namibians don’t want to go to places such as Okakarara and Tsumkwe. Employing foreigners is a headache because it is difficult to obtain work permits for them,” she said.
The statutory cases which Gender and Child Welfare will take over, include all cases affecting orphans.
The government defines an orphan as any child under the age of 18 who has lost one or both parents – being either single or so-called double orphans.
If a surviving parent cannot be traced, the child still qualifies for grants and care under the ministry’s foster care programme.
The broader definition of the OVC includes children that are dependants of pensioners or disabled persons.
It also includes children whose caregiver is unemployed, earns less than N$500 a month or has been in prison for more than three months.