Nursing graduate now vegetable seller

KENYA KAMBOWE

When she left her village at the age of 36 to pursue her nursing studies, Lydia Haukongo had high hopes for the future and desperately wanted to provide for her children and family.

However, after having graduated in April, she is among hundreds of registered nurses who have been thrown by the wayside due to the health ministry spending cuts.

The 42-year-old University of Namibia (Unam) nursing graduate is now battling to find employment and has ended up selling vegetables on someone else’s behalf at the Oshakati Open Market.

Haukongo, who is a mother of three, hails from Ontanda village in the Tsandi constituency in the Omusati Region.

She shared her ordeal with Namibian Sun recently.

Haukongo graduated in April with an Honours Degree in Nursing Science (Clinical) from Unam and is a registered nurse.

However, she is finding it difficult to put bread on the table, as she has no stable source of income apart from selling vegetables on someone’s behalf.

She explained she had high hopes of having a better life after university, only to be shocked by the fact that the ministry has no new nursing posts available for the current financial year.

Haukongo said the reason why she decided to pursue tertiary education at the age of 36 was because life was difficult and she only survived on temporary jobs at her village to feed her family.

“I decided to go to school to improve my life and I thought that after graduating, I will have a decent job and take care of my family. But today as you can see, I am at the open market working for someone else because I don’t even have the funds to start my own business,” Haukongo said.

She is one of the many nurses who have graduated this year but remain unemployed due to the freezing of posts by the health ministry.

Last month health minister Bernhard Haufiku announced a 6.1% ministry budget cut for the 2018/19 financial year, which has negatively impacted employment opportunities for hundreds of nurses who are awaiting for employment.

Haukongo says she does not accept the ministry’s excuse that there is no money to recruit her and the hundreds of other unemployed registered nurses.

“This thing of people saying there is no money does not hold water anymore. We hear of corruption in this country, which is exposed on a daily basis and then we are told there is no money. We are grown-ups and we see what’s happening,” Haukongo said.

She maintains that government is able to find a solution to the problem.

Motivation

Haukongo questions how she will inspire her children or others to study hard and take education seriously, if she still does not have a job or an improved life after graduating.

She reiterated that her suffering before university is what motivated her to leave her village and study at the Unam Oshakati campus.

“How do I motivate my children, because telling them that education is the key to a better future it is no more true. I am living testimony,” Haukongo said.

“People that knew that I was studying at Unam and that I have graduated see me at this open market selling vegetables. What is that? Is this how we are going to achieve the goals under Vision 2030,” Haukongo questioned.

She said with the ministry not recruiting people it is discouraging university students who are busy pursuing a degree in nursing.

“Do you think the current nursing students who read newspapers and watch on television how the ministry reiterates there are no jobs will be motivated? The answer is no, because we all want to be employed once we graduate.”

She called on government to address the issue of unemployment, saying there is no country that has developed with a high unemployment rate.