Life at the dumpsite

While some are on holiday and enjoying the festive season, a group of Babylon informal settlement residents are sifting through garbage to trade in for recycling or sell.Speaking to Nampa during a recent visit to the Havana dumpsite near Fidel Castro Primary School, a resident said they scavenged from as early as 05:00. Twenty-seven-year old Nepemba Karupu hails from the Kavango East Region and said she came to Windhoek for a better life in the capital but things turned out differently for her.She said the group of about 10 to 20 women and children go to the dump in the mornings to look for clothes, bottles, tins and even food. “This is what we survive on. We wake up in the morning to come to the site hoping to get enough cans and any other thing such as bottles for us to sell and buy bread for our children and soap,” said the mother of two as the sun rose behind her back. Another resident, a 30-year-old mother of three from the Omusati Region, Nuusiku Nanyemba, said life had been tough for her since she lost her job at a security company. “Life has been hard ever since I lost my job which was the only source of income for me and my children,” said Nanyemba while sifting through the garbage full of empty wine bottles and rotten food. By 10:00, the sun is scorching and the smell or rotting garbage hangs over the dumpsite. This is not the only place where residents of informal areas go to scavenge for items they can salvage.A 36-year-old resident of Kilimanjaro informal settlement, Sakeus Witbooi, told Nampa that he goes to the municipal garden refuse and building rubble dump behind the B1 road to collect scrap metal for sale.He said the dump felt like his second home because it offered a better life than begging on the streets. “Collecting these copper pieces and other metals has become my life because at least when you sell these pieces you can be able to get money to buy for yourself soap and some food,” said Witbooi. “As we celebrate with our families and loved ones, let us be reminded that this is the season to reflect on how we treat strangers in our midst. There is no purpose to kindness, love or charity if it is only extended to those we know or those who speak our language or look like us,” President Hage Geingob said in his Christmas message.The president called on Namibians to join hands in the war on poverty. -NampaPETRUS MURONGA

Life at the dumpsite

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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Life at the dumpsite

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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