Omdel the ugly side of idyllic Henties Bay

HENTIES Bay is generally portrayed as a fantastic holiday town where hundreds of pensioners and other Namibians, as well as foreigners come to stay.

However, there is also a sad side to this idyllic picture. Hundreds if not thousands of people stay in Omdel, known as the ‘location’. Here you find the poorest of the poor with many of them suffering from hunger.

At the centre of efforts to help the needy, a committee – the Henties Bay Silver Hair – was set up in 2013. It is chaired by Walter Nel.

The committee seeks to draw attention to the plight of the poor in Omdel especially those living on up to N$600 a month.

Hel said their biggest concern is to support the aged with food and clothing. “Many of them stay in shacks and suffer effects of wind and cold on a daily basis. And, of course, the constant struggle to provide for themselves and sometimes for a string of grandchildren as well,” said Nel.

Nel and other charity organisations, such as soup kitchens and churches hope that the proposed ‘food bank’ run by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) will get off the ground to assist the elderly and those living with disabilities with the most basic need – food.

According to the latest statistics released by the Namibia Statistics Agency in their 2011 Population and Housing Census, Henties Bay has 4 720 residents, of which an estimated 8%, or 378 are senior citizens; 1 321 are unemployed; and 122 have some form of disability.

The OPM proposed the establishment of a food bank to initially cater for the basic needs of impoverished Namibians who have been collecting expired food items from dump sites, but now it seems will include other vulnerable people too, such as the elderly and handicapped.

Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku, who is responsible for the project, was quoted in previous news reports as saying that critical areas in all 14 regions have been identified to benefit from the initiative, and that it would only be for the needy.

“Only the needy elderly and the needy disabled people will be assisted on a long-term basis and the rest of the people will be registered on [a case to case basis],” Hausiku was quoted saying.

Organisations such as churches and soup kitchens, that feed the poor, will apparently also be able to register to benefit from the food bank.

Although Hausiku was not available, the OPM permanent secretary Nangula Mbako said they were busy with preparations for the food bank.

“All I can say is that the food bank is still happening. We are busy with preparations. Once it is ready, we will inform the media. I am not going to go into details but the beneficiaries will be the needy,” she said, without committing a time frame.

Oupa Elias is 77 years old and has no income – not even a government pension. He depends on the assistance of the Silver Hair Committee.

He was sitting on the step of his front door, basking in the sun on a cool morning, when The Namibian paid him a visit. Although his speech is no longer good, his body language showed that he was a jolly old man.

Elias could not walk, and so if no one came to his home to give him food, he would go hungry; sometimes for days. Eventually, through the assistance of the committee, he is now able to walk to the soup kitchen for his daily meal using a walking frame.

It takes a while for him to walk the kilometre trip, but he is adamant that he should do it by himself. He has been eating at the soup kitchen for the past eight years now.

Elias came to Henties Bay in 1978, and did building work to earn a small income. He would go angling nearby to catch fish for dinner. Sometimes he was fortunate; sometimes not. His boss apparently went back to South Africa, leaving him at Henties Bay.

He has been living in a shack most his life. It was only recently when he was allowed to live in one of the demo-houses in Omdel that are used as samples of the mass housing project. It is uncertain though whether he will be allowed to stay in the house forever because he cannot afford to pay for it – not even a month’s rent.

“This is the type of life he is used to. It’s about survival,” said Nel.

While speaking to Elias, a young woman, 23-year-old Christina Majira came to Nel and asked for N$4 to be able to go to the clinic because she was sick.

She told The Namibian that she could not get a job, and that she and her five-year-old daughter had to depend on her husband’s small wage of N$50 per shift. He was apparently a gardener or cleaner.

The woman said she has been living in a shack and that she hopes to get a house one day, but she knows a house will not bring bread to the table.

On the other side of the location is Karel Visagie – on crutches. He had polio aged only eight. He never recovered from it, and is now physically handicapped.

According to him, he’s been living off the government’s disability grant of N$600 per month, with which he buys food and pays rent. He has been on this maintenance for the past 20 years. If he does not get it, he will be even more helpless.

A few blocks down the road, 20-year-old Ezekiel //Garoeb was lying on a mattress next to his mother’s bed. He is mentally and physically handicapped. She had to go to Swakopmund for the day and a friend was asked to be with Ezekiel.

Nel, along with Pastor Reinhart !Nowaseb of the Smyrna Christian fellowship in Omdel, who also run a daily soup kitchen, said the community is always willing to assist where they can, but it also becomes a financial burden. It is for this reason that the food bank would be more than welcomed.

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