Windhoek
Pick n Pay and the Ministry of Poverty Eradication on Tuesday joined forces with Tim Ekandjo to feed the impoverished residents of Havana informal settlement on the outskirts of Windhoek.
Destitute residents of Havana will now start receiving meals through Tim Ekandjo’s Winter Soup Kitchen that was launched at the informal settlement on Tuesday.
The soup kitchen would provide 32 000 meals to children at the informal settlement over the next four months.
Speaking at the launch, Minister of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare Zephania Kameeta said poverty reduction efforts have been part of the government’s development plans at all levels since independence.
He said it is without doubt that “significant positive strides have been made in alleviating poverty across different sectors, as evidenced in the national statistics. However, poverty at 5 percent is still too high, according to His Excellency President Hage Geingob during the State of the Nation Address”.
He also revealed that the Ministry of Poverty Eradication has inherited the Social Welfare Division from the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, which is now responsible for the provision of social grants to the elderly and people living with disabilities.
“During the ministerial budget motivation speech, I sought approval for a total budget of N$2.7 billion for 2015/2016 financial year, of which N$2.3 billion will go towards social grants and this represents 84 per cent of the total budgetary allocation. These social grants, as you might recall, were raised from N$600 to N$1 000 during this financial year. The ministry therefore remains with only 16 per cent of the total budgetary allocation for operational costs and establishment and management of food banks,” stated Kameeta.
The initiator of the soup kitchen, who is also the Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs officer of MTC, Tim Ekandjo, said that personal social responsibility is all about doing to others what you would like them to do to you.
“It is about recognizing how your behaviour affects others and holding yourself accountable for your actions. But more so it is the demonstration of gratitude and show of love, care and social empathy to the less fortunate,” stated Ekandjo.
“This will be a four-month project where me and my team will be giving soup and bread to these children on Tuesdays and Fridays.
As we all know that malnutrition is all over the world, the main objective is to fight poverty among children in the community,” Ekandjo said, thanking the constituency councillor for allocating them a place from which to assist the community.
Speaking at the same event, Managing Director of Pick n Pay Norbert Wurn noted that, “This project speaks directly to what we want to achieve, joining together to break the circle of poverty, especially with children with hunger.”
Kameeta concluded that the war against poverty is multi-dimensional and calls for concerted efforts.
“This is now the time, fellow Namibians that we rid ourselves of greed and instil the spirit of sharing and solidarity among us,” he said adding, that as one of the world’s most unequal nations in terms of income distribution, it is time Namibians device ways of sharing wealth by way of the fortunate sharing with the less fortunate.
“Hunger is the lowest level of poverty and we should strive towards its total abolishment,” he said.