Cocoma receives beds from business people

THE community hostel at Cocoma Junior Primary School, situated 160 kilometres west of Rundu, received 34 beds from various businesses here on Monday.

The school has three teachers and 147 pupils from Grades 1 to 4, with 84 pupils accommodated in three makeshift structures of the hostel.

Speaking during the official handover of the beds at the school, principal Moses Ndumba said Cocoma is a government school with two classrooms shared by four grades.

Due to the high number of vulnerable children from surrounding farms and villages, mostly from the San community, the hostel was established to ensure that the pupils attend school and do not drop out.

The school is situated inland, and surrounded by conservancies. Wild animals such as lions and elephants thus frequent surrounding villages, Ndumba explained.

“The community hostel was also established because some of our pupils walk long distances of up to 10 kilometres to get to school. Other run back home when they meet wild animals on the way,” the principal said.

The hostel opened in 2017 with 22 pupils, and that figure has since grown to 84.

Ndumba said the donation of the beds by the businesses is the first donation to the school, and he expressed his gratitude.

The 84 pupils in the hostel were sleeping on very thin old mattresses that they shared.

Businessman Robby Amadhila of Roama Gates Manufacturing, who donated some of the beds, said it is essential that education is given the support it needs.

He said what brought him to Cocoma is a video about the school which went viral on social media two weeks ago, depicting the challenges faced by the vulnerable children, such as sleeping on old mattresses shared by five in small makeshift structures.

Amadhila said the beds were not just donated by him, but also by other business people such as Sidney Martin, Saara Katiti and another businesswoman in Sweden.

Grade 1 teacher at the school, Muhembo Shindona said she came to the school in 2016 before the community hostel was established.

Shindona informed this agency that she doubles as a cook, a situation that is not beneficial as it affects her lesson planning sessions.

“I have to wake up as early as 04h00 every morning to prepare meals for the children, after which I have to wake them up to bath, and make sure they clean the dishes before school starts,” she said.

Meanwhile, Amadhila promised that he was going to return soon to assist the school further in building a pre-fabricated hostel.

– Nampa

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