Life in Ekunde 6’s poverty-stricken settlement

Families in Okahandja’s informal Ekunde 6 settlement are raising children in plastic-and-scrap shelters where floods, fires, hunger and exposure to hazardous waste form part of daily life in extreme poverty.

The homes here are not so much built as assembled from plastic sheets stretched over materials salvaged from the dusty surroundings.

They stand clustered on bare ground near a riverbed, where a fragile community hangs on with little more than hope and survival instinct.

During a recent visit, Namibian Sun spoke to 43-year-old Tania Kloefas.

Framed by a doorway patched together with plastic and wood, her boyfriend sat in a camping chair sipping coffee as a radio played in the background.

Around them, the yard was scattered with plastic bottles collected for resale and recycling.

Kloefas’ two children, a 15-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister, unpacked food and other items collected from the local dumpsite for the day’s meals.

“That is actually our daily food,” Kloefas said, referring to the discarded goods her children retrieve from the dumpsite.

The remark, delivered with a brisk laugh, masked the harshness of their daily reality.

When asked about schooling, Kloefas said her son had dropped out. “I seriously do not know why he left, but he left because maybe he was tired,” she said.

Her daughter, however, still attends classes.

“The children go to the dumpsite to look for our daily food because that is where we unfortunately live off," she said.

Kloefas herself never attended school and cannot write, not even her own name.

Her prospects of finding work, already limited, were further complicated by a surgery she underwent years ago. "I don't even know what surgery it was," she admitted.

Constant fear

Living beside the river in Ekunde 6 carries its own risks. When heavy rains arrive, water breaches homes and sweeps away belongings. During the most recent flooding, Kloefas said blankets and clothing were lost. "The rain takes everything," she said.

The family has no stable income, and Kloefas said she does not receive social grant support for her children.

During Namibian Sun's visit, a young girl was seen drinking what appeared to be expired medication collected from the dumpsite. Nearby lay aerosol cans and discarded household items.

While some of the family’s comments were delivered in a light-hearted tone, the situation highlighted alarming health and safety concerns for children and adults living in conditions of extreme deprivation.

Kloefas said the Okahandja councillor's office had previously provided her with eight corrugated iron sheets and five poles, but the materials were not enough to construct a proper shelter.

She also described being cut from a food assistance programme, allegedly without explanation. “I used to get food assistance, but when I went back, my name was no longer on the list. They could not explain why,” she said.

“I am so tired of that councillor's office, non-stop fights with no solution.”

Nearby, Ivonne Ludik (26), heavily pregnant and mother to a fatherless five-year-old boy, echoed similar frustrations.

Ludik said her son has no birth certificate after the original document was destroyed in a shack fire.

Without money to replace it, she is unable to apply for a social grant.

“The struggle is real. I am trying, but with no luck,” she said.

She also criticised the councillor’s office. "Some days they help, but that help is of no use,” Ludik said.

Namibian Sun counted more than four homes in the area built primarily from plastic sheeting and discarded building materials.

Residents described living under the constant threat of disasters, including floods or veld or shack fires – hazards that could move quickly through the densely packed structures.

As the afternoon sun bore down on Ekunde 6, children and teenagers tended to cooking fires and sorted through rubbish collected from the dumpsite.

Nearby, Kloefas' son helped his mother prepare a meal from food gathered earlier, while his sister played among the day's collected items – both apparently unbothered by the hardship around them.

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