Satco leather shoe project strives to fight poverty in South

THE people of Satco in the South have made leather shoe manufacturing their profession in an efforts to ease poverty.
When The Namibian recently visited the farm, people involved in the leather project were hard at work with the daily routine of making shoes and other leather goods.

Dawid Koper (37), who learned shoe making from an elder, said their monthly earnings from the sale of shoes ranged between N$2 000 and N$7 000. He said 60 per cent of the returns were spent on purchasing new material while each of the eight people involved in the project received a monthly allowance of N$150. He said other community members also benefited from the project in the form of financial contributions if they needed a helping hand.’On several occasions the project has provided daily necessities such as tea, maize meal and sugar to those who cannot afford to buy it. We partially cover funeral costs when a community member passes on,’ he added. The surplus money is deposited into a bank account to ensure the sustainability of the project. ‘So far the project is sustaining itself,’ Kooper remarked with a broad smile on his face. Despite the project’s success since it started operations in 1998, it faces challenges like any other businesses, said Kooper. Kooper highlighted a lack of space to store their products and to perform their daily tasks as the major challenge. ‘Definitely, a need exists to expand the structures from where we currently operate,’ he said. Appealing for donors to help with building material to replace the blazing hot corrugated-iron structures currently serving as a workshop and storeroom, Kooper said the community was more than willing to build a proper structure themselves if funding was available. Kooper thanked the donors that had funded the project in the past, saying the project had received N$51 000 so far. Satco farm is located 10 kilometres north of Karasburg on the B1 road between Karasburg and Grünau.