Hat tip to Germany

The new German Ambassador, Christian Schlaga and his wife bunked the lesson during the Ministry of Foreign Relation’s induction course on local customs, where the couple would have learned how rude it is to wear a formal hat indoors, or to keep a hat on the head during conversation. Nevertheless, the Outapi people ignored the oversight, being too polite and only too happy to receive the ambassador’s couple on Thursday last week when the official handover of the water treatment plant took place. The Ambassador stressed the importance of maintenance and local ownership: “Cities in northern Namibia are growing very rapidly, therefore it comes at a right time that sustainable solutions to the issue of water supply have been developed together with the local populace, with the Ministry for Agriculture, Water and Forestry, and especially with the Outapi Town Council. This is a great success and I would like to express my hope that these plants, which are working so well now, will not prove to be ‘white elephants’ in the future, but will enjoy long-term use.”