Nuusita Ashipala
Ohadiwa-In a quest to improve sanitation and subsequently ensure that Namibia becomes open-defecation-free, Society Life Change last Friday handed over eight toilets to the community of Ohadiwa yaKapombo in Ohangwena Region.
The construction of the eight toilets was funded by the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) at a cost of N$50 000.
The toilets will benefit 56 villagers from eight households. Society Life Change is a youth project for unemployed youth in Endola Constituency, which was established in 2014 to fight unemployment.
CEO of DBN, Inkumbi, said the bank is committed to fund projects aimed at uplifting the lives of rural communities and it spends close to a million dollars yearly. He said the new ablution facilities will improve the living conditions of the villagers.
In addition, Inkumbi said the construction of the toilets has created temporary jobs for the local community. Constituency councillor for Endola Constituency Ferdinard Shifidi said there is an unsatisfactory number of toilet facilities at the village.
“Sanitation is very crucial when it comes to the prevention of waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea,” said Shifidi.
Project Coordinator, Isak Tooleni, said the project was driven by a lack of adequate sanitation facilities in the region. He added that the project further aims to provide proper sanitation facilities because sanitation remains a challenge in the rural community.
Apart, from the construction of the toilets, eight members from the society received entrepreneurship training, where four of them were given start-up capital of N$600 to start their own businesses.
The training was funded by NamWater to the tune of N$5 000.