Africa-Press – Namibia. FRIDAY, 10 March 2023, is a day Erastus Nathanael (67) and his household will never forget.
It is the day mysterious fires gutted Nathanael’s entire homestead, including 13 huts and all the family’s property.
“We are left with nothing, completely nothing, everything we owned burnt in the fire. Money, documents, clothing, blankets, beds and food are all gone. I don’t know how to describe this, only God knows what this is and how we will come out of this,” said Nathanael’s wife, Selma Wellem (57).
When The Namibian visited the Nathanael’s homestead at Oshamono village in the Ohangwena region on Monday afternoon, the family was sitting in the shade of one of the only shelters left standing in the compound. Ash was everywhere, while burnt furniture and household tools like rakes, hoes, spoons, plates and beds were the only evidence of what once belonged to the family.
Wellem said she left home on Friday morning to go to the hospital at Eenhana, about 25 kilometres away. She left her three older daughters at home. At around 12h00 on that fateful day, she received a phone call to inform her that her home was burning down.
“I couldn’t believe it at all,” she said.
Her daughter Christina Nathanael (43), who was home when the fire started, had tears in her eyes as she narrated what happened.
“We had just left the house to go into the field to work. We always make sure that we don’t leave anything cooking, and there is no fire in the kitchen either.
“While in the field at around 12h00, we noticed smoke was coming from inside the house, so we ran to assess the situation and when we reached there, we saw that one of the huts was on fire.
“We screamed for the neighbours to come and help and we managed to put out the fire but soon afterwards, we saw the adjacent hut was also on fire.
“The fire kept jumping from one hut to the next until there was nothing we could do any more. We just stood there and watched in horror as our home burnt down.
“The fire died out after all the huts were burnt down completely,” she said.
“We don’t know what to do, we have no food, clothes or blankets, everything is gone.
“Please, we are appealing to any good Samaritans out there to assist us in any way,” said Wellem.
Both Ohangwena governor Walde Ndevashiya and Epembe constituency councillor Matthew Nanghama visited the homestead on Monday to hand over donations of food, blankets and mattresses.
They also appealed to members of the public to assist the family.
“As we can all see here, this family has been left destitute. They are only left with the clothes on their backs. We have assessed the extent of the damages caused by the fire and it is really bad.
“Let any good Samaritans out there help out in any way they can, whether it’s food provisions, clothing, zinc sheets to rebuild their home, blankets and beds,” said Ndevashiya.
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