Africa-Press – Namibia. THE unemployed residents of Mariental’s Takarania New Location wake up every day to sit in the sun.
This is how they pass their time.
Paul Boois (31) says he often walks to the nearest traffic lights, hoping to find a piece job as a grass cutter or yard cleaner for the day.
He has four children and is his family’s only breadwinner.
Boois says trying to escape the cycle of poverty is exhausting.
He says he is a qualified plumber and handyman, but cannot find work.
“We are not working, we are hungry, and we are getting hungrier every day.
“Every day we are going to town to struggle for N$20. People sometimes help us with N$5 so we can buy our children food.
“It’s not good for us, we are all people,” he says.
Boois says despite being skilled, he cannot find work at Mariental.
“We can do everything with our hands, we have skills, but if there’s no work, how should we survive?
“If we steal, they will take us to jail. The government must help us,” he says.
Boois says the settlement’s young people are mostly unemployed.
“Some young people are done with school, but they do not have jobs. Most of them are at cuca shops and use drugs every day,” he says.
Boois says during election times they are visited by many political parties full of empty promises.
“After elections, not even one of the politicians come to us to see how we are living.
“We are hungry every day,” he says.
Hannerine Goeieman (42) says she has two children, one who is studying at university.
She says she is struggling to support them, despite receiving a grant from the government.
“If you get that N$500 for two kids, the bank deduction will be N$50, and I sent her N$400 to Windhoek.
“With that money, I can’t even buy bread for the smaller child I stay with, not even cooking oil, but the government says they give us money,” she says.
Goeieman says she is willing to do cleaning or any other job.
Ellis van Schalkwyk (46) says he has tried getting a job in the construction industry, but it does not pay much.
“I have five children. My wife is also unemployed, and we have applied for a grant, but we are not sure if it will be approved by the government.
“We need food, and, most importantly, a decent job,” he says.
Van Schalkwyk says they survive on food from a soup kitchen, and on being paid for occasional repair jobs.
“I have my certificate from school, but I am almost 50 years old, and whenever I apply for government jobs, they say they only accept people between 18 and 45 years old.
“At the municipality, they told me I am very old,” he says.
Last year, the World Bank recorded that at least 1,6 million people in Namibia are living in poverty.
The number of poor people in Namibia is measured in terms of the upper middle-income poverty line at N$84,43 (US$5,5) per person per day, using purchasing power parity terms from 2011.
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