Swakop couple win big in lottery

SWAKOPMUND resident Beresford Steenkamp and his wife Jo-Anne had more than enough reason to celebrate on Saturday night after hearing that they’d won a six-digit cash prize in the last Winna Mariba lottery draw.

Steenkamp was making coffee at around 20h00 on Saturday when the phone rang and he was congratulated on winning N$100 000. “We’re still half asleep this morning,” Steenkamp told The Namibian yesterday.”We were too excited to sleep much last night.”Steenkamp, who works as a supervisor at the Marine Security company, says what he wants most is for his family to move from their rented house into their own home.”The children are growing up, the rent is expensive and we don’t even have hot water here,” he said.They also plan to share some of the money with their church and close family members, while a donation to the Cancer Society has already been set aside.”When you strike it lucky, one has to give a hand to others, then it will come back to you,” Steenkamp said.The windfall couldn’t have come at a better time, said Jo-Anne.Times are getting tougher and keeping the wolf from the door takes sacrifices.”But now I feel like a child who’s got a brand-new bicycle,” she said.After telling their daughter CJ (5) that they had won a lot of money, the girl wanted to know whether the winnings were enough to buy a long-coveted talking doll.Bradley (2) is still too young to understand the excitement.”It seems to be a good year for me,” said Steenkamp.”This is the third time this year that I have won something in a competition.I’ve only won free entries so far in Winna Mariba and was about to give up.”The couple are overwhelmed with gratitude.”We could hardly wait to go to church this morning to thank God.We’re very thankful to Trustco as well.””We’re still half asleep this morning,” Steenkamp told The Namibian yesterday.”We were too excited to sleep much last night.”Steenkamp, who works as a supervisor at the Marine Security company, says what he wants most is for his family to move from their rented house into their own home.”The children are growing up, the rent is expensive and we don’t even have hot water here,” he said.They also plan to share some of the money with their church and close family members, while a donation to the Cancer Society has already been set aside.”When you strike it lucky, one has to give a hand to others, then it will come back to you,” Steenkamp said.The windfall couldn’t have come at a better time, said Jo-Anne.Times are getting tougher and keeping the wolf from the door takes sacrifices.”But now I feel like a child who’s got a brand-new bicycle,” she said.After telling their daughter CJ (5) that they had won a lot of money, the girl wanted to know whether the winnings were enough to buy a long-coveted talking doll.Bradley (2) is still too young to understand the excitement.”It seems to be a good year for me,” said Steenkamp.”This is the third time this year that I have won something in a competition.I’ve only won free entries so far in Winna Mariba and was about to give up.”The couple are overwhelmed with gratitude.”We could hardly wait to go to church this morning to thank God.We’re very thankful to Trustco as well.”