Renovation of Okakarara SSS hall starts

OKAKARARA, 26 APR  – The Okakarara Senior Secondary School’s hall, which burned down in 1988, is finally being renovated.
School principal Eliah Nguarambuka on Tuesday told a meeting on the renovation since then, no renovation work has been carried out.
After visiting the school in April 2016, Otjozondjupa Governor Otto Ipinge proposed that a gala dinner be held to raise funds for the work.
“The gala dinner raised more than N.dollars 900 000 in cash and pledges,” said Nguarambuka.
The funds are now being used to renovate the hall and classrooms and to replace the old wire fence with a stronger structure, he said.
Nguarambuka said work on the hall started on Monday and is expected to last for a month.
Ipinge was also present at the meeting. He brought along 100 bags of cement donated by the Rani Business Group of Companies based in Otjiwarongo.
Ipinge promised to support any other renovations needed at the school, saying it is one of the oldest in the region.
“As far I remember, it was in this hall where many of our medical doctors and successful lawyers from this area sat to write their examinations during our days,” he said.
During the gala dinner in July 2016, Standard Bank Namibia, represented by its Chief Executive Officer Vetumbuavi Mungunda, pledged the highest amount of N.dollars 75 000.
Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services Juliet Kavetuna pledged N.dollars 50 000 in her private capacity as a former learner of the school.
Nearly 200 people, mostly parents, former learners of the school, business people and regional and local authority councillors in Otjozondjupa pledged cement, paint other building materials and livestock towards the project.
Ipinge on Tuesday said those who still wish to contribute can do so through the project’s bank account.
The school was officially opened in 1973 and currently has more than 600 learners.

NAMPA