Our Star of the week is Japanese ambassador to Namibia, Hideaki Harada, whose government built new classroom blocks consisting of four permanent classrooms and one storeroom at Tobias Hainyeko Primary School. The new school block was funded by the government of Japan, through its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) and was constructed at a cost of N$942 418. The beneficiaries of this new block are 160 Grade 1 learners.
The government of Japan also donated close to 500 units of neonatal and nutritional equipment to seven northern district hospitals valued at US$800 000 (about N$9.5 million) this week.
The equipment was this week handed over at Oshakati Intermediate Hospital in Oshana Region, where it will help the health system build resilience for children and families affected by drought and flooding, which is part of a tripartite agreement between the Namibian and Japanese governments and UNICEF. The equipment includes lifesaving machines that help premature babies to breathe. At Oshakati where the event was hosted, 208 premature babies have already died this year.
Tobias Hainyeko Primary School is the 34th school that has benefitted from Japan’s GGP since its inception in Namibia in 1997. Since the opening of the embassy in Windhoek, 54 projects have benefited from the GGP funding amounting to N$37.5 million.
Of these 38 are in education, with 11 schools getting a combined 41 constructed classrooms. Eight of these schools are in Khomas Region.