Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia), the State-owned diamond marketing and sales company, through its corporate social responsibility vehicle, the Namdia Foundation, and in collaboration with Toivo Nuugulu Logistics, last week distributed approximately 10 000kg of food to the Omusati region’s communities of Etunda and Oshifo and Kunene region’s
communities of Otjivero and Etanga. Namdia’s first stop, led by the CEO Kennedy Hamutenya, was at Etunda and Oshifo in the Ruacana area, where the Angolan nationals migrated from drought-stricken areas in Angola. The Angolan nationals travelled afoot for up to 130km on a journey that took weeks and sometimes months to reach the Ruacana areas, with more arriving daily in search of food. 

With the anticipated arrival of winter, these communities risk exposure to even harsher temperatures, as they sleep out in the open or in makeshift “houses”, made from various materials they salvage. These communities comprise over 1 400 people, including more than 50 pregnant women and over 600
children under the age of six. 

The second stop led the Namdia team to Ojivero and Etanga in the Opuwo area to meet the Ovahimba communities, where 292 families benefited from the food parcels. Despite the favourable rain the country received this year, the Kunene region remains under the grip of a lingering drought.