Support group needs funds for garden project

MEMBERS of the Opawa Support Group at Okambebe village in the Ohangwena Region are in dire need of N$600 to obtain land to develop their gardening projects at the village.

The leader of the group, Paulina Imbili revealed this while speaking at the official opening of the group’s fruit garden project established near Omungwelume village in the same constituency last Wednesday. The Councillor of Ongenga constituency, Leonard Shimutwikeni, officially inaugurated the group’s Omungwelume garden, according to the Namibia News Agency (Nampa). The garden is named after Nehemiah Nghishekwa, a retired school inspector and a community leader.Imbili said that 49 HIV-positive people at Okambebe wanted to start a new garden project to produce vegetables for own consumption and possibly for the local market. Members of the Opawa Support Group told Nampa the village leadership had said the group should pay N$600 for the land use. They had received another plot a few years earlier on which they grow crops, but this is to be exchanged for a new plot. ‘It came to our surprise when the village leaders decided to reclaim the plot they granted us before, despite the fact that we were already producing crops there,’ members of the group told Nampa.’We are appealing to good Samaritans to donate some money so that we can buy the plot at Okambebe, where our members would start vegetable production,’ Imbili told Nampa. Members of the group managed to contribute N$150 so far which they will pay as a deposit for the land to start cultivating before the end of the rainy season.’The project is for everybody, not only for those infected with HIV today,’ Imbili added. ‘People should bear in mind that today it is me and tomorrow it could be you, as HIV infection is not limited to certain people,’ Imbili stressed.The Opawa Support Group say they are disappointed that the leadership of Okambebe village demands payment, although the village headman, Philemon Nghipangwa, was one of the group’s advisors. According to Opawa members, Nghipangwa recently discontinued his support to the group for unknown reasons. Ongenga Regional Councillor Shimutwikeni on Wednesday threw his weight behind the Opawa group at the official opening of the other garden. He appealed to individuals, companies, organisations and donor agencies to support projects of support groups in his constituency.Approached for comment, Headman Nghipangwa said he was not aware that the Opawa group had no money to obtain the land. ‘There is still room for negotiations between the two parties to find a remedy,’ Shimutwikeni told Nampa.The planned garden at Okambebe is to be named after Queen Mwadinomho waKristian yaNelumbu of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority. – Nampa