Africa-Press – Namibia. OTJOMUISE resident and father of six Eben Herold (56) is counting his losses after his shack was washed away by the heavy rains pouring down on Windhoek in the past month.
“You name it, it is destroyed,” says Herold after being left homeless three weeks ago.
With all he has worked for washed away, Herold has now been left to make do with life in the tent he was provided by the City of Windhoek.
Even after the city fathers came to his rescue, Herold and his wife are still yearning for privacy as they have to share their space with another family of six people, who have also been left in agony by the rains.
“How can we have two families in one tent? We appreciate the tent provided to us, but it is no different from our flooded shacks,” he says.
Herold does not know how he is going to replace his children’s school books, which were also washed away.
“I am unemployed, and so is my wife. Life is now much harder than before, because we have to start from scratch to feed our children. We really need help,” he says.
Since his ordeal, food has become a luxury for Herold and his family.
Fourteen people in one tent is challenging, he says.
“We have baboons attacking our tent, and this is not safe for our kids. We are therefore pleading to be granted permission to relocate our shack to the other side of the riverbed, because it would be on a hill,” he says.
Another affected resident, Hewicke Helga (59), sits on a stone in soaking wet clothes, praying for the sun to come out.
She says she has been living in the riverbed for over seven years, and the rain has always brought misery with it.
“I am tired and really saddened, because while other people are enjoying rain, we are crying,” she says.
Helga is pleading to be moved to a more hospitable place.
Community activist Samuel Driemondt (60) says the City of Windhoek is ignorant to the plight of Otjomuise’s affected residents.
He says he is worried about 14 people in one tent during a pandemic.
“Three weeks ago the City of Windhoek promised residents it would be a temporary solution, but they are still suffering,” Driemondt says.
Rietha Shipanga, a member of 7de Laan Otjomuise’s community development committee, says officials are well aware of their struggle, but are not acting on it.
The city’s spokesperson Harold Akwenye says the residents were accommodated in the tents as part of the duty of care to remove them from danger when their houses were affected by the flood. He says this arrangement is temporary, as they will return to their houses once it is safe to do so, then follow an approved council procedure on vacating dangerous or unsuitable areas for habitation.
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