OKAZANDU – The Ovazemba people in Okazandu village outside Ruacana in Omusati Region are appealing to government to build a school near their village. The community claims that the village has many children of school-going age but the closest school to the village is about 20 kilometres away.
According to a community leader in Otjimanangombe village, Hendrick Munambome, the three houses in the village are home to about 36 children who have to walk the long distance to the nearest primary school that only goes up to Grade 4. Otjimanangombe village nearby finds itself in a similar situation.
The Ovazemba people are a matrimonial society with some customs similar to those of the Himba and have their own distinct hairstyles and attire. They remove four of their lower front teeth and file the two upper front teeth.
The headwoman Elina Kativa confirmed the modern challenge saying the area also has no nearby clinic and when children and pensioners get sick it is difficult to transport them to Ruacana hospital. “We are facing a lot of challenges here and we also have a food problem. The food is not enough for all the people here and so we decided to share one bag of maize meal among the three houses so that everyone gets something to eat,” said Kativa.
Kativa said her people are known to live a nomadic life roaming around with their goats, sheep and cattle, herding them from one grazing area to the next. However, there are also those who have settled down but who engage more specifically in hunting and gathering food from the veld. She said although the government settled them they still do not have much to eat, while water is scarce.
By Loide Jason