Maltahöhe CommonWater Organisation’s project gets much-needed German Embassy financial support
The German Embassy, in collaboration with the local NGO Maltahöhe CommonWaters Organisation, recently signed a grant agreement to finance the rehabilitation of existing boreholes in the area of Maltahöhe, in the Hardap region.
The Embassy said it would avail N$832,000 for the refurbishing of 12 boreholes identified by the organisation, providing much-needed relief as the country is still grappling with the aftermath of the pandemic.
The allocated funds are a combination of resources from the micro project fund of the German Embassy in Windhoek, together with additional COVID-19 immediate relief funds from the German government.
“Since many communities in the traditional Nama area in the south of the country are still struggling with the aftermath of the pandemic, this project will serve entire communities with much-needed water supply. It will help the community members, especially with upholding their farming, which means the people no longer have to drive the cattle miles from their homestead to find water,” the embassy said in a statement.
However, the rehabilitation of the boreholes with solar technology entails that all the water points will be fitted with a solar water pump and panels, as well as tanks and pipes for drinking water supply for humans and animals.
“In addition to refurbishing the boreholes, each water point will set up a so-called ‘water point committee’, which will provide training and education as a skills transfer to the users of the water posts. The training will also entail a financial literacy module to encourage the setup of financial reserves with small personal contributions by the community members. These “water cent concepts” which can be used to secure later repairs, if necessary, will certainly strengthen the commitment of each beneficiary towards the maintenance of the respective boreholes,” the statement said.
“Nowadays I’m mostly in Mariental because I can’t do much here. We lost almost all animals in the drought and there is not enough water here. If we can get water now and I can get back to my job and plant a garden, then I can stay here and not have to live in the city,” said Alwina Witbooi, a community member at Aneis water post.
“We’ve had a really hard time in the last two years. We had to carry all the water for the animals and us, carrying hundreds of liters of water every day. That got us down and was exhausting and tedious. Now we have water at our post and our goats can drink it whenever they want. We are very happy and infinitely grateful to the sponsors of this project that we were seen and that we were helped,” added Ella Bikeur, another community member at Daweb water post.
According to the Embassy, the community of Farm Kleinfontein, about 70 km southwest of Maltahöhe, is the first beneficiary and is delighted to finally have a functioning water supply on the farm. “The communities are very thankful and are now looking forward to benefiting from the programme. There are a total of 453 boreholes in the traditional Nama area, of which 300 are potentially in need of rehabilitation in the next 10 years. The support needed for this project is huge.”
The Maltahöhe CommonWater Organisation was created to secure water as a livelihood for local communities in need in the traditional Nama area. The founder of the NGO, Guido von Wietersheim, and most of its members were born in the area and are still living there.
