Eking out an existence at Juliana

THE farm Juliana, about 70 km northeast of Grootfontein, is the new home for about 60 San people.The farm previously belonged to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry but in 2004, Stephanus Ndamona was resettled there from Mangetti Dune.

The other 60 San farming at Mangetti Dune followed him. Life at Juliana is very hard.The San have no livestock and live off the edible plants and insects they find in the veld.They also plant vegetable gardens and maize patches whenever they receive seed from friends or family, or can afford to buy seed from farmers.Their only source of income is de-bushing and charcoal burning.They sell the charcoal to a businessman at Tsumeb for N$300 a ton.This money is used to buy seed or maize meal for the whole community.”Now with the rain we cannot produce any charcoal and thus we are suffering from hunger and it is getting worse,” says one of the charcoal burners, Joseph Conrad Munango.The Namibia Red Cross Society has heard about the starving community and jumped in to help.They donated 10 bags of maize seed, 10 packets of cabbage, tomato and pumpkin seeds and 10 bags of fertiliser to the community.One bag of maize, if planted and cultivated properly, yields enough to feed about 150 people.The farm is about 15 km from the main dirt road leading to Grootfontein and the community has no transport or telephone.When somebody falls ill, they have to walk to the road and hitch a lift to get to the nearest clinic.The need for a telephone or regular visits by a mobile clinic is huge.They also have no agricultural implements, which makes farming very difficult but, in the words of community leader Gerson Kavarie, “We are hardworking people and can make a decent living for ourselves”.Stories like that of one-year-old Joseph Munango are plentiful.Joseph’s mother abandoned him after her new boyfriend physically abused the baby.Joseph now lives with his father and stepmother at Juliana.The little boy is clearly malnourished.”My family often goes a whole week without eating a proper meal,” says Munango.Munango and his wife are the only people at the farm who are not San.They came from the Kavango Region in 1996 to work on a nearby farm.Since the charcoal business was brought to a halt by the rain, he has sold his chickens to buy maize meal, which they eat with dried grubs found in the veld.Life at Juliana is very hard.The San have no livestock and live off the edible plants and insects they find in the veld.They also plant vegetable gardens and maize patches whenever they receive seed from friends or family, or can afford to buy seed from farmers.Their only source of income is de-bushing and charcoal burning.They sell the charcoal to a businessman at Tsumeb for N$300 a ton.This money is used to buy seed or maize meal for the whole community.”Now with the rain we cannot produce any charcoal and thus we are suffering from hunger and it is getting worse,” says one of the charcoal burners, Joseph Conrad Munango.The Namibia Red Cross Society has heard about the starving community and jumped in to help.They donated 10 bags of maize seed, 10 packets of cabbage, tomato and pumpkin seeds and 10 bags of fertiliser to the community.One bag of maize, if planted and cultivated properly, yields enough to feed about 150 people.The farm is about 15 km from the main dirt road leading to Grootfontein and the community has no transport or telephone.When somebody falls ill, they have to walk to the road and hitch a lift to get to the nearest clinic.The need for a telephone or regular visits by a mobile clinic is huge.They also have no agricultural implements, which makes farming very difficult but, in the words of community leader Gerson Kavarie, “We are hardworking people and can make a decent living for ourselves”.Stories like that of one-year-old Joseph Munango are plentiful.Joseph’s mother abandoned him after her new boyfriend physically abused the baby.Joseph now lives with his father and stepmother at Juliana. The little boy is clearly malnourished.”My family often goes a whole week without eating a proper meal,” says Munango.Munango and his wife are the only people at the farm who are not San.They came from the Kavango Region in 1996 to work on a nearby farm.Since the charcoal business was brought to a halt by the rain, he has sold his chickens to buy maize meal, which they eat with dried grubs found in the veld.