For senior citizen Elia Shaanika from Ongandjera District in northern Namibia’s Omusati Region, the future seemed bleak and he did not know how he would survive next month as he faces severe food shortage due to the drought.
“We are living from hand-to-mouth. My harvest and yields were very poor. I have been surviving on the minimal food supply I have left to live on, which is nearly about to run out,” he said on Tuesday.
But the supply and distribution of pearl millet, a staple food by his King has given Shaanika hope for his family’s survival. The Ongandjera Traditional Authority supplied pearl millet (Mahangu) to over 70 homesteads severely affected by drought within its district.
Witnessing that many people in the Ongandjera District in the Omusati region face food insecurity as drought devastates the country, the Ongandjera Traditional Authority has revived an ancient traditional practice of distributing food from its palace silos to feed its community amidst food insecurity.
“With all the problems people are encountering such as severe hunger situation, I had to come to their rescue,” said Johannes Mupiya, King of the Ongandjera Traditional Authority.
It is the face of poverty, explained King Mupiya- that his palace team, comprising senior village headmen, decided to revive the ancient practice. The senior headmen from 15 villages within the district were then instructed to conduct a needs assessment, and compile a list of homesteads severely affected by drought to have a clear indication of how many households the palace needed to distribute Mahangu to.
The most affected were the senior citizens in the 15 villages, who could not harvest adequate yields from their fields.
“This week we called all identified households to come to the palace from where we distributed the food supply to over 70 households,” said King Mupiya.
Villager Shaanika said that the distribution came at the right time when many households, like his, were struggling to make ends meet.
As for King Mupiya, he said, his duty is to make sure nobody within his district starves. “I do not want to hear of anyone dying from hunger while there is food at the palace,” Mupiya said. The King’s efforts also complement government efforts in its fight against poverty and the persistent drought. Enditem
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
(Via: NewsGhana)
