STORY PIECE OF SELMA NAMWANDI

 

Selma Namwandi a facilitator of the SDFN belongs to the Jambidhidha group from Greenwell Matongo. Born and bred in Oshakati near the Okandjegeti area, she moved to Windhoek in 1988 in pursuit of a brighter future. A friend she was acquainted with by the name of Eveline, informed her about SDFN and its purpose during the early years of the organization’s establishment. According to Eveline she felt that Selma was a perfect candidate to join the federation as she needed land and secondly, she possessed the communication skills to inform others in the community of the federations’ existence and its objectives and goals. Two months after her arrival in the capital, she joined the federation whilst she was residing in a shack located in the Ombili area.  She lived in the shack for about a year and a half and made an income for herself from selling various food products such as fish and cookies.  Just like any other individual she desired a piece of land that she could call home. SDFN is an organization aimed to improve the lives of the poor by securing affordable land and shelter and improving the living conditions of those excluded from commercial housing and financial processes, using a community-driven approach. The members met occasionally on Saturdays and Sundays with various other people from different networks at “Club Thriller” (near the damara location) for information exchange and discussions on how to generate money for the saving scheme and their basic needs. After some time, Selma moved to a new rented place in Freedom Land which, was built out of general building board material. She shared the new shack with her fellow mates Ideth Mbanga, Eveline Nuses and Nangula Shikalepo. As members they used to receive a reasonable amount of payment for taxi and other necessary purposes. Part of the activities she was involved in was to make other community members aware of the organisation and its benefits for the people i.e., the savings books they received. As time passed the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia grew as an organization and the number of low-income persons that joined. In the year 2000, Habitat 2 was granted a block of land for residence. Members of the federation decided that it was best to buy a piece of land and to build the federation office partially on that land. The federation office was built to help other low-income persons that need land in the various regions of the country. The federations activities include organizing communities through saving schemes; learning from each other while doing the work; knowledge for development; affordable land, infrastructure, and resources for the poor; the Twahangana loan fund provides access to funds for the poor for income generation, houses, services, and house construction.

Saving is the key, she emphasis cause without it your membership does not exist. At the beginning most of the groups were not aware that as an individual you need to save money in order to purchase an erf. In 2003, 9 groups received land which included the Jambidhidha group. Some of the groups were in Goreangab, Otjomuise etc. After the allocation of land, the Jambidhidha group built 10 houses including Selma Namwandis’. Upon completion of these houses, her home was officially opened by Councilor Otto Nankuthu. Ever since her home was completed, she continues to save in the federation as saving was the basis for building her house she adds. Sometimes the federation faces a lot of challenges which mainly is the service delivery issue. Some of the members say that ever since they joined the organization between the 80’s and 90’s, they had not received any piece of land up to date to build on which is often discouraging. Mrs. Selma as a federation member feels obligated to lift these members’ spirits to never give up the journey of one day acquiring land to erect their structures on. She adds that the federation does not own the land but hence our government and patience is vital.  As a facilitator she often attends meetings with the local authority on behalf of others that are still in need of land to obtain land. Though, she already obtained her share of land, she will still help others that need land. Questions that are often raised by other people are what means she used to obtain her land, information of importance and her willingness to help others achieve the same result. As an individual she feels that she has significantly contributed to the group in a lot of positive ways. One of the greatest things that still motivate her to be loyal to the federation is the willingness to help others acquire land as she knows by firsthand the situation of being homeless. Lastly, she would enormously like to thank Namibia Housing Action Group for their great continuous assistance.