Refugees in Namibia’s isolated Osire settlement are faced with difficult decisions as inflation continues to drive up the cost of necessities like food and petrol.
Mbuyi Kayembe is one of over 7,000 residents in the Osire settlement, located in arid scrubland over 200 kilometres from Namibia’s capital, Windhoek. He fled his home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1993 because of the conflict which claimed the lives of both his parents.
Mbuyi originally sought safety in Zambia, where he met his wife Mary, whose father had also been killed by rebels. When their daughter Sarah was born with albinism, their lives came under threat once again. His daughter was the target of witchcraft and Mbuyi was approached by a local army chief to buy her body parts for use in traditional medicine. Their safety in jeopardy, the family fled again, to Namibia.
At the settlement in Osire, land is set aside for refugees to grow fruit and vegetables, enabling Mbuyi to supplement the family’s food rations and provide a small income from selling the surplus crops.
Today, however, the once-fertile land has become inhospitable. Unseasonal weather and dwindling food rations caused by cuts to aid budgets are leaving Mbuyi’s family hungry for days at a time. With temperatures in Osire reaching nearly 40°C, and water in short supply, refugees are struggling to grow the crops that have until now been a vital source of food and income. Mbuyi is resourceful, but he now fears for the future of his five children.
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“The food we are receiving doesn’t last us through the month,” he says, in the dark two-room dwelling with a single mattress where the family of seven takes turns to sleep. “We haven’t received paraffin to cook with for several months. We have no choice but to look for firewood in the private farms surrounding the settlement. It is illegal but if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to cook our food. Our children would starve.”
“Sarah can’t go outside without getting sunburnt,” he adds. “By midday, it’s so hot outside and it pains me as a parent to see her struggle with this. I have to sell the few rations I receive to buy sunscreen lotion for her.”
Located 90 minutes from the nearest town, refugees in Osire are isolated from opportunities to integrate and reliant on humanitarian assistance.
Just as needs are increasing, aid in the region is under severe pressure due to the sharp increase in fuel and food costs. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi recently warned that without an injection of US$700 million in additional funding before the end of the year, UNHCR will be forced to cut vital aid to forcibly displaced people across the world.
In Namibia, the impact of inflation has meant that the budget allocated by UNHCR to fund a year’s worth of food for refugees has lasted only eight months. Osire’s livelihoods project, supporting refugees in small-scale farming and animal rearing so they can be more self-sufficient, was already cut in September.
Story was adapted from UNHCR.
