FIVE RAND SQUATTER'S CAMP- a tour

The community of Five Rand got it's name when the farmer who owned the land charged people five rand ( U.S. 50 cents) a month to live there and use his water. (At the time Namibia was part of South Africa)

The land now belongs to the city of Okahandja, and plots can be purchased for $700 to $900 U.S. dollars. Most people however never achieve ownership and just set up their tin home on whatever plot is available.

There are a handful of cement block houses in the camp. I was curious why this one was empty, and was told that it is haunted by a dead child crying in the walls.

Five Rand is not just a place where people have their homes, but there are also many business, churches, a few preschools, and one primary school .

Here is a very nice preschool ( here we say kindergarden) and it doubles as a church on Sunday. I think they used pallets for the wood part.

Here's another church

Butcher

Here's hubby at the take out.

The most frequent business in the camp unfortunately, is that of having a bar as part of your home (called a shebeen)

The reason this is such a problem, is that many, many of the camps residents drink away their small pay checks within the first few days of getting them, and their children go hungry.They sometimes even give children alcohol because it makes them stop crying.  

 There are often bar fights, and I especially pity the children who have this going on right in their home.

  Each bar tries to get customers by playing  louder and louder music and so it's a constant "battle of the bands" especially in the evenings when kids are needing to do homework.
One reason we built the community/youth center is so kids will have a safe place to be, and where they can participate in sports, games, and learning as an alternative to following in their parents foot steps of drinking as the only form of entertainment.
TO BE CONTINUED.......