By Foibe Paavo
SWAKOPMUND, July 13 – As the economic woes worsen, many individuals continue facing daunting survival challenges, especially the most vulnerable who seem to find it hard to manage the rising prices of food.
According to Namibia Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2021, more than 43.3 percent of the country’s population live in poverty. The average intensity of poverty is 44.0%, meaning that poor people in Namibia experience, on average, 44.0% of the weighted deprivations.
“We have all witnessed the video that was released on social media last week about people flooding for cooking oil on sale at Shoprite.
“It is not only about the homeless children feeding from waste dumps or poor families scratching themselves to bed on an empty stomach or pickpockets surviving on other people’s pockets…
Their quest to fight hunger makes them do it. The kids at the side of the road/mall who beg for a dollar or two, want to feed themselves.”
Maria Nakale who is in her mid-thirties juggles between two jobs in a bid to raise enough to provide for her family.
She is a hairdresser but also juggles her time to sell second-hand clothes. When she is not at the saloon, she is at a nearby stall selling second-hand clothes.
And when customers come to the saloon, she runs back there to attend to them leaving children in charge of her clothes business across the street.
“It’s not safe to leave kids in charge though, sometimes adults take advantage of them. That’s why sometimes kids are talked into selling the clothes or bags cheaply in the market with the adult not caring whether I would make a profit or not,” she said.
“Customers always demand that we lower prizes for them. But what then if I sell out quickly, but I don’t make enough at the end of the day to order more clothes?”
Maria said depending on only in one source of income would not help her as customers for hair-dos sometimes come at a trickle as there is a lot of competition.
“A day or two or even a week can pass without customers who want to have their hair done, but I must take care of my responsibilities,” she said.
