Pupils sleep in bitter cold

Over 100 Omuhonga Primary School learners near Okanguati in the Kunene Region are sleeping outside in the winter cold, due to a lack of hostel infrastructure. The school, which caters for pre-primary to Grade 7 learners, was established in 1998 as a mobile unit to provide alternative education to nomadic children from the mainly Himba and Dhimba tribes. In 2012, the school was turned into a conventional school and today has an enrolment of 159 learners - 98% of whom sleep at the school on weekdays. School principal Muniehi Kakuva told Namibian Sun that some children live as far as 50km from the school. “The reason we are keeping the learners here, is because they want to learn. If they go home, even if home is a short distance away, many of them will not come to school, because they will be forced by their parents to look after cattle,” said Kakuva. Teachers at the school and even Kakuva himself, sleep in colourful tents set up a stone throw away from the school. “The girls are perhaps more fortunate than the boys, because their parents have given them tents in which to sleep. The boys are all sleeping outside with single blankets,” explained Kakuva. Most tents are shared by three to four schoolgirls, while the schoolboys, who sleep on a layer of thin clothes, prefer to huddle next to each other during winter nights in an attempt to keep warm. Although there are ablution facilities at the school, the pupils’ bath outdoors with cold water collected from a community solar pump. Their meals, consisting mainly of maize meal, are prepared under a tree by the school janitor. According to Kakuva, the day starts at 06:00 when the learners get a wake-up call so they can be on the school premises by 06:50 for morning assembly. By 07:00 all the learners are in class for their first lesson and by 10:30 are fed their first meal for the day. At 13:00 the school closes and learners residing at the school have play and study time until 18:00, when they are provided with their second and final meal for the day. “The children are fed two meals a day, one of which is provided under the school feeding programme. The school charges each learner N$55 per term to be able to feed them a second meal,” Kakuva said. On weekends, all the learners are required to return home, as the school does not have enough resources to feed them during that time. When children are sick, the school transports them to the nearest clinic at Okanguati, which is some 16km away. “The challenge many times, is finding transport to take them to the clinic,” said Kakuva. The primary school currently has one block which consists of two classrooms and a store room. Although the school is in the process of building three more classrooms, most learners are currently taught under makeshift tents. “In other parts of the country, learners are sent to school by their parents, but here the children come themselves. “I have 18 and 19 year olds in lower grades and sometimes the parents fight to take them out of school to go and tend to their livestock,” said Kakuva. Uejakongua Tjiramba, a 20-year-old Himba learner in Grade 5 started school when he was 15 years old. Before enrolling at the school, Tjiramba was, like most Himba boys, looking after his family’s cattle. On weekends, Tjiramba is expected to travel more than 20km on foot to his family’s cattle post to carry out his duties. “I’m happy I’m in school, because I want to become a school principal someday,” said Tjiramba. Kaulipondwa Tjimbaka, a 17-year-old Grade 3 learner from the Dhimba tribe, tells Namibian Sun that he wants to become a State veterinarian, as he loves animals, especially livestock. Despite their hardships, Kakuva insists that his learners don’t know any better, and for them being in school is probably the highlight of their lives. “These children just want to get an education” says Kakuva. OKANGUATI MERJA IILEKA