Youth desperate for jobs
Young people at the village of Dordabis are “throwing their lives away” because there is no economic activity.
Young people at Dordabis say the lack of employment and recreational facilities at the village is the main contributor to violence and alcohol abuse.
Located 80 kilometres east of Windhoek, the village has about 2 500 inhabitants, many of them young people who struggle to find employment. At a community meeting at the village's community hall on Tuesday, the youth voiced concerns that being unemployed in some cases leads to them breaking the law.
Ricardo Garobeb, 26, told Nampa he rents a corrugated iron shack and relies on handouts from friends and relatives to pay his rent and buy food.
“I use electricity, but most of the time I can't afford to buy it. So I have to trespass on private property like nearby farms and steal wood to make fire,” he said.
Garobeb called on the government to help the community with employment opportunities.
Another resident, Fredrika Gomagas said residents have been suffering since independence.
“The youth have nothing to do and end up in jail while in some instances girls who are young and still in school or unemployed end up pregnant,” she said.
She explained that some teenage pregnancies were a result of girls looking for money from older men in order to meet their basic needs.
“I am pleading with the government to do something for the community of Dordabis. No development is taking place and nothing is happening. Our young people are throwing their lives away,” Gomagas said.
The Dordabis Primary School and the local clinic and police station are currently the biggest employers at the village.
Speaking to Nampa on Tuesday, Dordabis community leader Isack Ockhuizen said since he became involved with matters concerning the community unemployment has always been its biggest challenge.
“Almost 90 percent of the people who are able to work do not work because they have no opportunities and the majority of that percentages includes the youth,” he said.
Some of the youth depend on the N$1 250 monthly pension grant their parents receive to support them.
“It's an obstacle the community of Dordabis has to overcome,” Ockhuizen said.
-Nampa
CHELVA WELLS
Located 80 kilometres east of Windhoek, the village has about 2 500 inhabitants, many of them young people who struggle to find employment. At a community meeting at the village's community hall on Tuesday, the youth voiced concerns that being unemployed in some cases leads to them breaking the law.
Ricardo Garobeb, 26, told Nampa he rents a corrugated iron shack and relies on handouts from friends and relatives to pay his rent and buy food.
“I use electricity, but most of the time I can't afford to buy it. So I have to trespass on private property like nearby farms and steal wood to make fire,” he said.
Garobeb called on the government to help the community with employment opportunities.
Another resident, Fredrika Gomagas said residents have been suffering since independence.
“The youth have nothing to do and end up in jail while in some instances girls who are young and still in school or unemployed end up pregnant,” she said.
She explained that some teenage pregnancies were a result of girls looking for money from older men in order to meet their basic needs.
“I am pleading with the government to do something for the community of Dordabis. No development is taking place and nothing is happening. Our young people are throwing their lives away,” Gomagas said.
The Dordabis Primary School and the local clinic and police station are currently the biggest employers at the village.
Speaking to Nampa on Tuesday, Dordabis community leader Isack Ockhuizen said since he became involved with matters concerning the community unemployment has always been its biggest challenge.
“Almost 90 percent of the people who are able to work do not work because they have no opportunities and the majority of that percentages includes the youth,” he said.
Some of the youth depend on the N$1 250 monthly pension grant their parents receive to support them.
“It's an obstacle the community of Dordabis has to overcome,” Ockhuizen said.
-Nampa
CHELVA WELLS
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