REPORT from New Era - Published on 07 May 2019 “following consultations with cabinet and the wider government system, I declare under Article 26 of the Namibian Constitution that a State of Emergency exists on account of the natural disaster of drought in all regions of the Republic of Namibia.” President Hage Geingob.
This natural disaster has a shortage of water and resulted in thousands of livestock dying. While the government has funds reserved to support of the country, the Ongula Homestead community is searching for a more permanent solution.
One of our projects is aimed at resolving this dilemma by building a borehole and providing water filtration technology to the Ongula Homestead along with the Ongula Academy and eventually further to the surrounding areas. This would make the community and academy self sufficient as the borehole taps groundwater and stores water from rainfall throughout the year. In addition, this reduces the strain on the government to provide aid to the area which allow their relief support to be further distributed to other areas affected by the drought.
In conjunction with the Ongula Homestead community, a guest of the Ongula Homestead Lodge had seen the need for better infrastructure and has generously committed their support with water filtration technology. While a borehole solves the problem of water supply, safe drinking water is still another matter that needs to be taken into consideration. Mr. Paulo Ribeiro, co-owner of Vitamina-te is the main sponsor and has committed to the project by assisting with the mobilisation of the water filtration technology needed so that the community will not only have a reliable water source but also safe to drink.
“We are a group of entrepreneurs who have created a movement based on health, well-being and ecological that works at social and environmental level.
I have a passion for Africa. My Family came from there and I feel something
special about Africa because of that. Since I was a child, I saw many TV Programs about wildlife and my curiosity about the continent began to grow and one dream that I had was to go to Africa to do a safari, see the animals and Feel
the local cultures closely.
Last year (2018) I fulfilled that dream and I went to Namibia with my girlfriend, We crossed the country and since that time I feel that I want to do something really good for Namibia and Africa in
general, in some way, providing a better quality of Life to the people. Ongula Village was one of many places in Namibia that we spent one night. We were very welcomed by everyone and we had an amazing time visiting the local community
with Erick, the tour guide. It was simply magical.
I have one at home, and as we know, the quality of water in many regions in Africa it's not how we would like it to be. I started thinking about getting in touch with
associations and local communities to provide water filters to help people in many locations where this could be something of value and raise funds. This is my Vision, I'm sure that we can do something really good and interesting for
many people”.