Namibia country report

activities. He did not know how he and his wife would have survived without their monthlypensions. For Usiel, the years when they received food rations and worked in the gardenwere the best years at Drimiopsis. When the rations stopped, everything “went backwards”;they struggled even to get the garden going properly.It was very common for pensioners at Drimiopsis and Skoonheid to look after their grandchildrenand pay for their schooling. Some of the fathers employed on commercial farms sentmoney and/or food to sustain their children and the grandparents. Apart from his wife’sincome of N$300 per month, the only other support that John and his wife received wasthe food or cash sent from time to time by their son who worked on a nearby farm. Whenthey ran out of food, they bought food on credit at a local shop.William, formerly a government employee, received a government pension as well as thegeneral pension, totalling N$800 per month. Since arriving at Drimiopsis, the only othercash he had earned was from sales of small amounts of his garden produce. He had usedsome of this money to buy two bicycles, but had sold one.Some churches provided support to beneficiaries at Skoonheid from time to time. KatrinaHelena had received clothing, cooking oil, stampmielies (samp), sugar and meat from theRoman Catholic Church once a month. This church provided support only to people whoclaimed to be Catholic.6.3.2.2 Crafts and cultural displaysCraft production and needlework provided modest but important complementary incomestreams for households at Skoonheid and Drimiopsis. However, due to a general lack ofcash for buying the necessary inputs, many women were almost entirely dependent onexternal sources for inputs and marketing. If an outsider provided beads and string formaking various items, or cloth for making clothes, women engaged in these activities. Assoon as the supply of raw materials stopped, production also stopped. Only occasionallydid some women buy beads and other inputs in Gobabis or Windhoek if they had sparecash as well as transport opportunities.A medical doctor who ran regular clinics at Skoonheid initiated a craft project involvingwomen. She supplied beads and other inputs, and even bought the finished products. AnnaAlbertina was one of the women who benefited from this. She used the time she did notspend in her garden to make beaded items and clothes. The latter she sewed by hand as shedid not have a sewing machine. For inputs she depended on outside agencies such as thedoctor and the pastor. They supplied inputs and bought the crafts from her. She usuallylack cash for buying inputs, but whenever she had spare cash, she bought beads in Gobabis.Making crafts was her only source of cash income, enabling her to earn N$10 to N$40 perweek. This sufficed to buy mealie-meal and sugar, but was too little to buy soap as well.Bernadine sewed dresses which she sold for N$120 each. If she could not sell them atDrimiopsis, she took them to neighbouring farms. When she had material, she made up toLivelihoods after Section Land Reform: B ● 6. Group Namibia Resettlement country report Schemes (2010) ● 151