Zambezi children’s situation still dire
The situation of child-headed households in the Zambezi Region exposed by this newspaper in March remains dire.
A social worker told Namibian Sun that children living in child-headed households are suffering because they are unable to fend for themselves. Their plight is worsened by the fact that many of them don’t have the national documents required to register for government grants.
She said she recently found another household of three girls aged nine, 13 and 16 living on their own.
“The parents left last August. I often get donations and I give them. The challenge remains documentation,” she said.
The social worker said one of the other child-headed households in the area is a family of five children, of whom three were born in Botswana. One of the parents died while the other parent just vanished.
Some of the children returned to Namibia from a refugee camp in Botswana without identity cards or birth certificates.
“Home Affairs and Immigration helps me a lot. I often travel with lots of people to Home Affairs at Rundu and they will give one person to assist. They have been helpful. It’s just that it cost about N$300 to get to the closest Home Affairs offices and people here are very poor,” she said.
Namibian Sun in March revealed how many former refugees from the Dukwe camp in Botswana were just dumped in Namibia without documentation or social support.
“Many of these people were just dumped at the border with no documents and no plan to integrate them; they are starving,” the social worker said at the time.
Over the past few years, the Namibian and Botswana governments voiced their determination to repatriate Namibians living at the Dukwe camp, who had fled Namibia after the failed 1999 Caprivi secession attempt.
Many refugee children returned with sickly parents and without identification documents.
“In one of the households, the mom died shortly after returning from Dukwe; the oldest child is 19 and unemployed. One of the children is now in foster care while the other children were sent here without any identification documents. I am struggling to get documentation,” she said in March about one of the other child-headed households.
She also told Namibian Sun of a boy who is both physically and mentally challenged and has nobody to care for him after the death of his mother.
The social worker said there is no feeding scheme and there is little help she can offer the starving returning refugees.
Joyce Nakuta of the Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry’s Directorate of Child Welfare says the ministry continues to work with Home Affairs to get the children registered.
She explained that in cases where a household is headed by a young adult the ministry is working to ensure such children receive a monthly grant.
She said the pending Child Care Protection Act would give children the opportunity to choose a caregiver who would receive the grant on their behalf.
GORDON JOSEPH
A social worker told Namibian Sun that children living in child-headed households are suffering because they are unable to fend for themselves. Their plight is worsened by the fact that many of them don’t have the national documents required to register for government grants.
She said she recently found another household of three girls aged nine, 13 and 16 living on their own.
“The parents left last August. I often get donations and I give them. The challenge remains documentation,” she said.
The social worker said one of the other child-headed households in the area is a family of five children, of whom three were born in Botswana. One of the parents died while the other parent just vanished.
Some of the children returned to Namibia from a refugee camp in Botswana without identity cards or birth certificates.
“Home Affairs and Immigration helps me a lot. I often travel with lots of people to Home Affairs at Rundu and they will give one person to assist. They have been helpful. It’s just that it cost about N$300 to get to the closest Home Affairs offices and people here are very poor,” she said.
Namibian Sun in March revealed how many former refugees from the Dukwe camp in Botswana were just dumped in Namibia without documentation or social support.
“Many of these people were just dumped at the border with no documents and no plan to integrate them; they are starving,” the social worker said at the time.
Over the past few years, the Namibian and Botswana governments voiced their determination to repatriate Namibians living at the Dukwe camp, who had fled Namibia after the failed 1999 Caprivi secession attempt.
Many refugee children returned with sickly parents and without identification documents.
“In one of the households, the mom died shortly after returning from Dukwe; the oldest child is 19 and unemployed. One of the children is now in foster care while the other children were sent here without any identification documents. I am struggling to get documentation,” she said in March about one of the other child-headed households.
She also told Namibian Sun of a boy who is both physically and mentally challenged and has nobody to care for him after the death of his mother.
The social worker said there is no feeding scheme and there is little help she can offer the starving returning refugees.
Joyce Nakuta of the Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry’s Directorate of Child Welfare says the ministry continues to work with Home Affairs to get the children registered.
She explained that in cases where a household is headed by a young adult the ministry is working to ensure such children receive a monthly grant.
She said the pending Child Care Protection Act would give children the opportunity to choose a caregiver who would receive the grant on their behalf.
GORDON JOSEPH
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