Children Count

This year’s conference hosted by U-Khai/Yelula

took off to a flying start as the audience were asked to shimmy, shake and sing before learning all about the project. The conference was mainly for stakeholders to learn how their money is spent, and also to assess how grants are awarded to orphans and vulnerable children. It was a three day conference held in the Youth Centre and included lots of important people, such as the mayor, the regional councillor and doctors. A social worker from Keetmanshoop was the first speaker on Thursday. Mrs N.T. Naukushu is from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, and is a very prominent social worker in the Karas Region. The audience was educated on the maintenance grant criteria for children, such as they have to be orphaned, have one parent imprisoned or have one deceased parent in order to receive the money. The child must also be in full time education, if they are of school going age.

It was a very interesting talk and many questions were raised by the audience. Some questioned whether N$200 a month was enough for a child to live on, with food and school fees to pay. The maximum amount one family can receive is N$700 a month, and that is if they have six children of the same parentage. A special maintenance grant is also available for disabled children who need extra care which costs the family money. A bit of light relief from the presentations was a related dramatisation done by inmates of Lüderitz prison and also various group work activities.

An important issue was also raised at the conference and that was that there are a serious lack of social workers and community care workers in the south of Namibia, which means children who are vulnerable or orphaned aren’t being looked after the way they should be. Many social worker jobs have been advertised but they get few replies.

U-Khai/Yelula has also worked with people with HIV and AIDS in order to make them come to terms with their circumstances and allow them to lead a normal life. Homosexuality has also been raised by the group, although it is not permitted by law, it is something that happens and people must be aware that homosexual men are more at risk. U-Khai/Yelula is supported worldwide, by Alliance, People in Need, Legal Assistance centre, IBIS, Hivos and the European Union.