Residents of Otjinungua in the extreme north of Kunene on Friday breathed a sigh of relief after a private-funded containerised clinic was opened to the public.

The residents will no longer have to travel about 330 kilometres to Opuwo for basic health services, a reality they have been accustomed to for decades.

The event restored hope in a largely destitute community where maternal deaths are common, while minor illnesses such as flu, respiratory infections and skin diseases are left untreated, due to unavailability of transport and money.

The clinic was officially inaugurated here by President Hage Geingob.

It takes 10 hours of rough driving from Opuwo to Otjinungua.

To Geingob, this is unheard of. He promised to instruct the Namibian Defence Force to intervene in making the roads more accessible and favourable, to ease the transportation of goods and services.

Kamburu Hepute, the spokesperson of Otjinungua’s headman welcomed the latest development.

“Now all I ask the president is to make sure that we can get an ambulance here because it is really difficult to get to Opuwo when someone falls ill,” he pleaded as the president nodded.

Constructed for around N.dollars 2 million, the containerised clinic has an accommodation facility for a nurse, an ablution facility and the general clinic area.

On behalf of the sponsors, Wilderness Safari’s Agnes Tjirare urged the private sector and NGOs to meet the government halfway in the attainment of development objectives.

GEINGOB IN OTJINUNGUA

School learners, teachers and members of the community thronged the airstrip, waiting under the baking sun, to welcome Geingob and his entourage composed of First Lady Monica Geingos, Kunene Governor Marius Sheya, chief of protocol Ambassador Leonard Iipumbu, Geingob’s private doctor and security detail.

It was a fanfare, as a jubilant crowd welcomed a sitting Head of State in their midst, for the first time.

The feeling was mutual as Geingob too was in awe.

For long Geingob thought he had traversed Namibia’s entire length and breadth. He was wrong, conceding that Otjinungua is a different ballgame, pointing to the extremely rough terrain, unforgiving heat and arid area that resembles elements of a desert.

Stepping out of the police helicopter, Geingos softly said to her husband: “Let’s go and greet the kids. This might be the only time they are seeing a president. It could be a big moment in their lives.”

Without hesitation, the president complied.

With his towering figure hovering over the learners, Geingob asked them: “Who am I?”

From the crowd was a learner, age 6, who instantly responded: “Oove Hage (you are Hage)”, leaving Geingob stunned, as could be deduced later in his speech on the day.

“I was saying where do the people live here? Do they live in this part [in mountains]? Then we landed here, small kids waited in the sun, I approached them and asked, what is my name? ‘Hage’ [they responded]. Very touching. The mountains don’t stop them from knowing their leader,” Geingob said.

The learners sang choral songs and elders danced the Ondjongo, a traditional Ovahimba ballet reserved for special occasions.

All in all, the mood was jubilant, the weather, ecstatically blistering.

NAMIBIAN HOUSE

This, Geingob said, is evidence that the Namibian house is alive and well.

Geingob understood the plight of the road travellers to this event.

“[Sheya] literally forced me to come here. And don’t regret it because I wouldn’t have been exposed to this experience. So I have come. I have seen the place. I have seen you. You will be in my heart,” an emotional Geingob told the crowd.

He urged the community to embrace all Namibians in their diversity and shun tribalism and other isms.

Sheya could not hold back his joy, saying since taking charge of the region in 2018, Otjinungua has been very close to his heart.

From community tales, Nampa picked up that an elderly man once asked Sheya who was the most senior government official to frequent the area: “Wazapi nguhatira omutenya, ondjora nozondjira zetu (Where are you from? It is strange you’re not deterred by hunger, heat and our bad road to come here all the time).”

Sheya always knew that a tough challenge lay ahead.

“Otjinungua is very far, very remote and very difficult to work in,” he said.

The governor soon took the challenge head-on, engaging traditional leaders, the community, conservancy and other stakeholders.

“We started working. Slow-by-slow, we started seeing progress,” said Sheya.

“First it was the school. Through the desk and chair repair initiative, we managed to make sure this school [Otjinungua Primary School] got everything it needed.”

While the government has approved and allocated an undisclosed budget for the construction of a full-blown clinic, the next challenge for the governor is to “bring a police station”.

More work lies ahead for a place without network coverage, he noted.

In a statement delivered on his behalf, health minister Kalumbi Shangula told the community to preserve the facility while buttressing the critical role played by the private sector in providing healthcare.

“The construction of this clinic is testimony to that,” he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency