Memories turn to embers

“EK voel hartseer,” (“I am heartbroken”) is all Fillemon Thomas could utter as he stared at the heap of smoking ashes in Okuryangava, a neighbourhood of Katutura.

Minutes earlier, this had been his life. The Maxuilili fire brigade suspects that a candle sparked the blaze that left Thomas, a Pick ‘n Pay employee, with nothing but the clothes on his back – a grey shirt, black pants and black shoes.According to the Maxuilili firefighters, who prevented the flames from spreading to adjacent shacks, Thomas is the third person already this year, in the areas it serves, to have lost everything through an outbreak of fire.The brigade’s Head of Operations, Sydney Theron, said: “The problem is that they don’t have electricity in their houses, so they make use of candles.Ever so often, a candle is not extinguished and, with the high amount of combustibles that can be found in these shacks, they burn down almost instantaneously”.Theron said from three to five shacks a month burned down.In the worst months, seven or eight might be razed to the ground.Thomas’s shack burned down on Thursday.Because he had a rare day off work, he was close to home when calamity struck, visiting friends a few shacks away.When his housemate, Wellibard Shikomba, left for work, said Thomas, “he left the candle burning.I turned around and saw a lot of smoke.And then it was all over”.All his documents, his bank cards, a revolver and the rest of his belongings are gone.Asked what victims in such cases should do, Head of Operations Theron said: “They can go to the Police station.There they will be helped to find places where they can sleep.They can also go to the Community Services Division of the Municipality which will offer aid”.The Maxuilili fire brigade suspects that a candle sparked the blaze that left Thomas, a Pick ‘n Pay employee, with nothing but the clothes on his back – a grey shirt, black pants and black shoes. According to the Maxuilili firefighters, who prevented the flames from spreading to adjacent shacks, Thomas is the third person already this year, in the areas it serves, to have lost everything through an outbreak of fire. The brigade’s Head of Operations, Sydney Theron, said: “The problem is that they don’t have electricity in their houses, so they make use of candles. Ever so often, a candle is not extinguished and, with the high amount of combustibles that can be found in these shacks, they burn down almost instantaneously”. Theron said from three to five shacks a month burned down. In the worst months, seven or eight might be razed to the ground. Thomas’s shack burned down on Thursday. Because he had a rare day off work, he was close to home when calamity struck, visiting friends a few shacks away. When his housemate, Wellibard Shikomba, left for work, said Thomas, “he left the candle burning. I turned around and saw a lot of smoke. And then it was all over”. All his documents, his bank cards, a revolver and the rest of his belongings are gone. Asked what victims in such cases should do, Head of Operations Theron said: “They can go to the Police station. There they will be helped to find places where they can sleep. They can also go to the Community Services Division of the Municipality which will offer aid”.