SAWI HAUSIKULUTIBEZIDONATIONS have been pouring in for Maria Mutango and her children over the past two weeks.
recently reported on the plight of Mutango and her two children, who have spent the past five years since she lost the use of her legs without a decent place to live at Mukekete in the Kavango West Region’s Tondoro constituency.
Many days, they had to go without food or water.
Before this ordeal, she was diagnosed HIVpositive.
A smiling Mutango could not hide her happiness when the Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS) last Thursday handed over a shelter made of corrugated iron sheets with cement flooring to her and her children.
Before, they lived in a structure which only had a roof, and slept on the ground.
“I never thought I will one day wake up in a place like this, but the NRCS made it a reality for me. My children are so much happier now, and I see that in their eyes. Thank you for the mattresses, clothes and blankets,” Mutango said.
She was referring to items donated by the NRCS and private individuals from all over Namibia and Germany.
The regional head of the NRCS, Matomola Masule told this news agency that they managed to secure funds with the help of volunteers from Germany, and drove to Mukekete to see for themselves what the family’s most pressing needs are.
Tobias Bergemann, one of the German volunteers, said the NRCS had already heard about Maria’s plight in March and were planning on doing something for her, but the organisation was not able due to a lack of funds.
“I decided to raise funds from my mother country, and luckily donations came from a company there,” Bergemann said.
Other Namibians who reached out to Mutango and her family is Ongwedivabased businessman Fidel Nambundunga, who said while reading the article, he thought that no child deserves to live a life as harsh as that.
“I read about how Maria’s children follow her everywhere she goes, how they go without food for weeks and how she drowns her sorrows in traditional beer. It is not fair that children their age should go through such troubles,” he stated.
It has since emerged that Mutango actually has three children, a boy aged two; a girl aged five; and another girl aged four who has been in the care of her sister.
Nambundunga gave them clothing, offered to pay their school fees and asked the agency to help find a preschool for the children as well as a nearby shop that would supply the family with food which he will pay for.
“I do this every year through a programme which I designed called ‘Time to Give’, when I dedicate my time to give to a certain cause,” the businessman noted.
Mutango previously said her biggest dream was to own her own ID card which would help her access the social grant for vulnerable people, or a disability grant.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare’s chief social worker in the Kavango West region, Brenda Mwiya paid the family a visit last Tuesday, and collected all necessary documents from Mutango’s mother to start facilitating the process for her to acquire identification documents.
The ministry is assessing whether the children should be placed in foster care. On her part, Kavango West regional governor Sirkka Ausiku told this news agency on Monday after she too read the story that she approached both the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare to speed up the process to help Mutango acquire national documents and government grants.
Nampa
