Martin Endjala
The Namib Desert Diamonds Foundation (NAMDIA) has disbursed N$250 000 to the NAMPHARM Foundation Trust aimed at supporting reconstruction surgery for children born with cleft palates to enable them to live a normal life.
The Trust covers the surgical costs for disadvantaged children suffering from these and other ailments.
According to NAMDIA Foundation Trustee member, Uahoroka Kauta, their partnership started in 2022 when they first donated N$250 000.
The additional donation brings the total which NAMDIA has disbursed to N$500 000. Last year Standard Bank of Namibia also came on board and donated N$120 000.
Kauta said NAMDIA saw the need to create a Foundation that is tailor-made to impact people’s lives and not only focus on Diamonds, because of its obsessive drive to build a Namibian house where no one is left behind, thereby honouring the mantra of the late President Hage Geingob, a legacy, he said the Foundation will continue to uphold.
“Since our establishment in 2019, as NAMDIA Foundation, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to really make an impactful change in people’s lives, and it is something that we are really proud of.
I think in echoing the late President’s inspiring mantra legacy, as a Foundation, we are really obsessively committed to building the Namibian house and ensure there is no one left out,” said Kauta.
He said that their involvement in a project such as this, is to support children who encounter significant difficulties through integration into society due to their special condition, which impairs the child’s ability to function normally, and in most cases, they then become pariahs outside of the mainstream.
Kaute emphasised that in building on the legacy of a Namibian house, they want to make sure that they integrate them into society, and the work being done by NAMPHARM Foundation is paramount, in bringing change in the lives of the little ones.
Kaute further mentioned that the Foundation continues to find ways how to meaningfully impact sustainable projects of this magnitude.
Furthermore, Kaute reaffirmed the Foundation’s commitment to continue the noble endeavour, hence its additional contribution towards the project.
He commended the project volunteers and staff for extending their valuable time in helping to change lives, describing it as an act of nobleness and patriotism to see future gems reaching their full potential.
NAPHARM Foundation Manager and Trust Carol Samedo, expressed gratitude noting that NAMDIA has been working hand in hand with them for a while now, and wishes to see this partnership continue, and called on other stakeholders to also come on board.
Narrating her story was Sophia Krambona, the mother of Alex Krambona, who recently underwent an operation for a cleft lip and has been recovering well.
She said she never knew that there were centers of such nature helping out mothers like her who can’t afford medical expenses.
“The day he was born I did not even know that he had such a condition, but when the doctor saw him, they told me not to worry they were going to correct it, and they gave me six months to come back.
Seeing my small baby going for operation I was so scared to death, but he was so strong, he just laid there smiling, that’s when I thought, thank God that there are people like this, willing to help us,” said a grateful Krambona.
She thanked the foundation for helping her, and encouraged them to continue the good work, and that she will forever be grateful to the Foundation.
NAMDIA Foundation’s Coordinator and NAMDIA’s Public Relations and Communication Officer Beverley Coussement, said the Foundation functions as the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vehicle of NAMDIA and was founded with the purpose of tackling Namibia’s social and economic challenges through the fields of Education, Health and Sports.
