Supports for medical services in Omaheke

The office of the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Gobabis last week received a substantial donation from the Ohorongo Otavi Community Trust, to improve the ministry’s capacity to care for convalescent and chronic patients. The equipment was presented to the ministry’s director for the Omaheke region, Mrs C. Thataoni. Ohorongo Cement, the company running the Trust, said “the value of the donation is hardly measurable in monetary terms due the difference that it makes in people’s lives.”

The consignment included wheelchairs, walking frames, commode chairs, scales, blood pressure gauges and an array of other medical equipment. The director was elated. She said “This donation is more than welcome and could not have come at a better time. Our people are really in need. They have already phoned me to enquire when the equipment will arrive.” Carina Sowden, Marketing & Communications manager at Ohorongo Cement, handed over the equipment on behalf of the Ohorongo Otavi Community Trust whose focus is community support and upliftment. The trust’s work is supported by the charity group Support e.V., located in Ulm in Germany. In an uncanny coincidence, Mrs Thataone presented a wheelchair to the first beneficiary immediately after she has received the equipment on behalf of the ministry. The truck driver delivering the equipment, Willie Opperman, mentioned to Mrs Thataoni that he is a resident of Gobabis and that his son, Willie Junior Opperman, suffers from Friedreichs Ataxia disease (FA) and is also dependent on a wheelchair. FA is a debilitating, degenerative neuro-muscular disorder which attacks the muscles, while the brain remains alert. Willie Junior inherited an old wheelchair from his sister, Cornelia, who suffered from the same disease and passed away a few years ago. The chair’s tyres barely had any tread left and was not in a good general condition. Willie Junior was ecstatic about his new chair and thanked Mrs Thataoni and the trust.