THE BEAUTY AND EVERYDAY'S LIFE OF EPEMBE CONSTITUENCY
editThis is a very rare discripition of a settlement in Epembe Consitituency in the far northern part of Namibia and it's part of Constituencies in Ohangwena region, Namibia
The village is unknown to those who had never been there.e.g when i was at boarding school at Ekulo Senior Secondary school i had my fellow roommates minds twisted when i popped up a story about Omishe, they were all like "where the hell is Epembe?" but hey!! if u really want to get to know Epembe I'am pretty sure that this is the right piece of work to read.
Epembe constituency is aproximately made up of a population of 14837 inhabitants. [1] Most houses have more than 8 members and during festive seasons ( Christmas and happy newyear)the number of people living per house can rise to more than 15 people. This is mainly down to the fact that these people value extended families very much.
Most of the the people native language is oshiwambo and there is a minority group of the SAN Community (bushmen). The Oshiwambo speaking people survive on growing mahangu millet whereas the SAN Community people rely on goverment drought relief and other types of grants from donors or non-govermental organ- isation. The SAN people who are reffered to as kwankaaras by Vamboes, are seen as lazy people while Oshiwambo people sees themselves as hardworking people who have worked for whatever they poses.
Epembe has one of the best environment in Namibia. It's half savanna and half tropical forest, although it's forest is not dense as that of countries in the central part of Africa. Ground squirrel, grey doves, springboks(far from homesteads), just to mention a few are some of the wildlifes people might set their eye on while staying in Epembe. Wildlife management is not really ephasised as you can find young boys with arrows on the hunt for birds in the sarrounding but there is a very strict law regarding the cutting down of trees. Epembe can also be found occaccuweather.com[2] and Epembe's timezone is Africa/Windhoek and the sun rise at around 6:30 and go down around 18:53.,[3]
If you think Epembe has no court of law of its own then you are completely mistaken. The judiaciary hiarachy is topped by the headman,elders and then messengers. However nowadays this court is only allowed to hold/host traditionaly related cases such as land related issues, livestock theft, witchcraft, rejected pregnancy ect.and not cases such as mulder,corruption at goverment's offices, baby dumping etc but these types of cases are left in the hands of the police and that of modern judiciary.
Epembe has a vast number of school going children that's why it was of vital importance to build a primary school. The school was built in 1991 shortly after Namibia gained its independence and it was named after the village hence its name Epembe Combined School. Many graduates from Epembe were enroled at Epembe Combined school.
However in 2012 the school made headlines for all the wrong reasons by sending school learners home immediately after they finished writting examination and according to The deputy minister of education, Dr Namwandi it was not aproppriate for learners to be absent from school even when they are with their exam. " The next time I come, here, I should find all learners at school. How you're going to do it it's your cup of tea," said the minister. The full story appeared in [4]
In spite of all the good things that Epembe has, the people of Epembe are faced with a major challenge of not having a proper hospital. It's a pitty that people and children have to travel a distance of about 50 killometers in cars going to the Onandjokwe hospital in Ondangwa. In case of emergency, at night, people without cars have to go wake up anyone with a car to take the patient to the hospital. People have voiced their concern but the goverment is still playing deaf.
To people in the world of business, Epembe is an ideal place to start up a grocery supermarket, your business will enjoy a large percentage of the market share and there is less competition as there is no single supermarket. There is only cucashops and they nomarly buy stock from Ondangwa which is 50 killometers away. So it's business wise to start up a business in Epembe.
Techonology is not dicriminating against Epembe's People there are now getting exposed to the civised world. There is now a couple of houses with televisions as well as own taps with fresh running water and most people over the age of 18 are having cellphones. Long way back in the 90's this people use to hassle for water from borewells, thanks to the so-called SWAPO led goverment the school have a tap and tanks for back up.
For those of you who are arleady smitten by the place you should take this into accounts if you planning to visit this beautiful place. The very important route someone can use is the route from Ondangwa. This road is only tarred until Onayena and then from ONAYENA onwards you should be ready to embark on a journey driving on the gravel road. When you reach Epembe Constituency in Ohangwena region right hand side and you should make sure that your car is a 4X4 and if not I'am afraid you