Nightmare on Romeine Street … as neighbours remember slain Avihe Cheryl Ujaha

THERE was an eerie silence in Katutura’s Romeine Street in Herero location, Katutura, this week following the murder of nine-year-old Avihe Cheryl Ujaha.

“We are afraid to go outside,” says a 12-year-old girl who knew Avihe and who lives across from her house in the street.

The fear was evident in her eyes as her mother, Greda Ndjataviua (30), recalled how they could not sleep the night Avihe’s body was discovered at about a kilometre away from the street.

“Earlier that morning, the police had come knocking on doors and asking questions. I wanted to sleep with my daughters that night because I knew they were scared,” said Ndjataviua as she tried to suppress her emotions.

By Wednesday, the usually noisy and busy street was quiet, except for a few little boys playing on their bikes and toy cars.

There were no little girls to be seen at the time, many of them had retreated indoors, instructed to play in the yard.

“I told my seven-year-old daughter to stay inside the house because there are people out there kidnapping children,” says another mother, Havarua Kaviyenene.

Neighbours said Kaviyenene’s daughter had overheard the conversation among the adults on Tuesday and already understood what had happened.

“She is too scared to leave the house now,” said a frequent visitor in the street, Vyouye Riruako.

Another neighbour, Charmaine Uakumbua, says Romeine Street was a close-knitted neighbourhood, usually safe, where children play soccer outside or went to the nearby vendors to buy sweets and chips.

“But today is different. The street has been [silent] since the news broke,” said Uakumbua.

She added that the general feeling in the neighbourhood was that whoever murdered Avihe was not yet done, and might return to claim a second victim.

When The Namibian visited the street that used to be home to Avihe on Wednesday, most of the doors where closed and some neighbours were speaking in hushed tones inside their houses.

“Most of the neighbours went to Wanaheda to offer comfort to the grieving family. This is something that has not only angered the people living on the street. The whole nation is in shock. We are all in shock,” said Riruako.

Another neighbour who lives down the street, Jaqueline Tuaandi says that she remembers Avihe’s mother, Pekakarua Kaimu, coming to her house on Monday morning and asking whether she had seen her daughter after she went missing on Sunday.

“She normally comes here to sit with me for drinks and to chat. But on Monday morning, she came to ask if I had seen her daughter. None of us had seen her. We thought she was probably somewhere in the neighbourhood and would return home later,” said Tuaandi.

She added that after hearing what had happened to Avihe, the children in her house have also been warned not to talk to strangers unless an adult accompanies them.

“When something like this happens, you feel the pain of a mother. I’m a mother myself, and I feel her pain. It’s not easy to lose a child,” said Tuaandi.

At a greenhouse just across from where little Avihe used to live, two little girls are still trying to come to terms with what happened to their friend.

One of them, wearing tights and a blue shirt, leans against a wall as she tells that she has been Avihe’s best friend since before their pre-school days as toddlers.

They used to play games and dodgeball together, she said. The 11-year-old girl’s mother, Greda Ndjataviua, says she did not know how to tell her daughter that her best friend has died.

“I remember walking up to her on Tuesday, but I could already see in her eyes that she already knew because news spreads fast around here. I just hugged her,” said Ndjataviua.

She added that because Avihe used to frequent her house to play with her daughter, the police had come to ask them questions on Tuesday and Wednesday morning after the body was discovered.

“I had to tell my children that they should not be afraid to speak to the police because they just wanted to ask them a few questions about their friend so that they can help,” said Ndjataviua.

She added that her daughter started crying while answering the questions as it got too emotional for her.

Ndjataviua’s eldest and 12-year-old daughter said they had last seen Avihe at their house on Sunday morning before she disappeared.

“Avihe came and asked me to taste different [flavours of Kool-Aid’s] before going back home,” she said. Some of the neighbours said the police also questioned them on Wednesday morning.

Katuu Henchel said the police asked people where they were when Avihe disappeared.

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