Working for a bowl of rice
When Ignatius Mukatu (40) first heard about the opportunity for people to sweep Gobabis’ streets a few months ago, he did not hesitate to sign up and get his hands dirty. His name was submitted as one of 30 people who would be sweeping the dusty streets of Gobabis on a daily basis – and […] The post Working for a bowl of rice appeared first on The Namibian .
When Ignatius Mukatu (40) first heard about the opportunity for people to sweep Gobabis’ streets a few months ago, he did not hesitate to sign up and get his hands dirty.
His name was submitted as one of 30 people who would be sweeping the dusty streets of Gobabis on a daily basis – and get paid.
On a Monday morning in May at 09h00, Mukatu and the others on the list reported for duty in front of the Gobabis Municipality’s offices.
They were immediately handed brooms and rakes to get to work after their names were called out. This will be their daily routine.
It was a happy moment as Mukatu thought he would finally be able to provide for his two children.
He only found out later they would not be paid in cash, but with a bag of Korean rice donated to the Namibian government as drought-relief food.
REPORTING FOR DUTY … The group waiting to report for duty in front of the Gobabis Municipality’s office on a Wednesday morning.
It was not the reward he was expecting for working four hours on the streets every day, he says, but that bag of rice was the difference between survival and starvation.
