Home of Good Hope Namibia
Katutura
is the township of Windhoek (the capital of Namibia). It was created
1961 following a forced removal of Windhoeks black population. The
population of Windhoek is about 200 000 and more than 120 000
live in
Katutura. The township of Katutura is constantly growing when
people
from other parts of Namibia move there in hopes of a job and a better
future. Katutura has a lot of resourses and is a vibrant part of
Windhoek with small local companies and markets. People of
several
ethnic groups, with different languages and culture are living together
in the communities. However unemployment is high and the majority of
the population in Katutura live in poor conditions in small shed
houses, without electricity, running water and toilets. The effects of
HIV/Aids and tuberculosis is a vast problem for the communities.
The
soupkitchen Home of Good Hope is situated in Goreangab one of the
poorest communities in Katutura. The most common thing for all the
children that go to Home of Good Hope is that they all come from poor
conditions. Some of the children have parents but many lost one or both
parents due to Aids and are themselves HIV positive. The Namibian
government is providing families with access to antiretroviral
medication at a minor cost but it is important to take the medicine
with food. Monica Imanga provides one daily meal, Monday – Friday, a
diet consisting of corn porridge and soup. This helps a lot but many of
the children still go hungry as this is the only food they get.
Vitamin deficiencies are current and lack of protein is visible, i.e.
big bellies on otherwise skinny children.
Many
of the children of Home of Good Hope go to school but far from all of
them. It costs 986 Namibian dollars (about 95 euro) per year (school
uniform included). A lot of the children cannot get an education
because it is too expensive.
Below you can
read Monica Imanga's own words about Home of Good Hope
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