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Farmer Jeremia Turns the Desert into Green Land

by Kaleni Hiyalwa
AS you arrive tn Galnac has. you greet people and they say "We are surviving" or "We are still alive' It has become the habit to refer In this way to their hand-to-mouth lives
Until recently things like tomatoes, onions, fruit and vegetables were not grown — and therefore not eaten — by most people In Galnachas. Today some buy them from shops In the nearby towns like Keet mans hoop and Mariental.
In 1989 one farmer. Jeremia Balsako, decided to make the desert land green. He started gardening. Hto land Is near the public water windmill which helps Irrigation.
Balsako explains: "Poverty compelled me to garden. I set down to think of what I could do and I came up with this tremendous plan."
Today Balsako grows tomatoes. carrots, pumpkins, and water melon and his family eats fresh food from the gar den
Balsako has 13 children and 32 grandchildren. Feeding and clothing them is difficult, so he often sells produce from his garden to get money to pay school fees and buy uniforms for his children
Independence for Namibia two years ago has brought more hope to the Galnachas population. People yearn to make the place greener, but they say they have no seeds, water or technical farming Implements.
The people's dream of making Galnachas a green land turned into hope when President Sam Nujoma visited the village tn 1990. He urged them to take forming seriously and many started trying to make the government policy of food sufficiency a reality by working on small backyard gardens.
But now disillusion is setting in. They say the government promised to help supply the farmers with farming materials to set up an intensive farming project in Galnachas — but they are still waiting.
The staple food of the peo pie of Galnachas is meat and sometimes milk, though In recent years they have learnt lo eat mealie-pap like rest of the population.
There is often famine in the village. Children from many homes sometimes find no food at home when they come back from school. Some have to drink a tot of water to fill their empty stomachs.
Since many people have no money to buy mealle-mealie. they still depend on meat alone. Yet rain Is Insufficient and grazing very poor. Goats and sheep die from drought.
Preservation of meat Is a problem. Because of fear that
the meat may be off If kept for days, a family may eat up a full goat in one or two days. On the day when there Is meat children and their parents feast, and then when all the meat has been consumed there 1s hunger for days.
If the family cannot afford to buy mealie-mealfe. then they eat mealie-pap with sugar or simply add salt to it.
Well-to-do farmers slaughter three goats a month. The animals are slaughtered only for consumption within the family, but It is also the custom to share things. So. once slaughtered. neighbours, friends and relatives get a share
For the people of Galnachas sugar, coffee, tea and salt are Important. Coffee and tea drinking is regarded as something thai can quench hunger. Despite the hot sun of Galnachas. people sip their hot coffee or tea at all times of the day from their steel cups. They complain that such items, bought In shops, are too ex pensive.
The people's economy revolves around their goats. The old people receive a monthly pension, but for many others their only Income comes from selling a goat or meat. One big
goat Is sold at RI50 and a small one at R70-90.
That way debts and school fees can be paid, but some times parents take their chil dren away from school to took after the goats In the surrounding farms. Some parents still think tn the traditional way that their animals are more important than school or white-collar jobs
Ouma Higoam, who is 85, warns his 36 year-old son, who works on nature conservation in Mariental, that he should leave his Job. come back home and look after the family goats which he says "are going astray".
Since pastures are poor in Galnachas all the people drive their goats 8-20 km away In search of better grazing.
Early last year, the government provided the people with maize mealie. beans and cooking oil and warned them that they should not wait for the government to do everything for them.
Ouma Josephine Kahutka says: "We need to produce our own food like other people elsewhere, but how are we going to begin since we have no seeds?"
This year Balsako Is working on a second garden. This one ts located near a prospected water pump belonging to the Council of Churches tn Namibia (CCN). He is beginning to prepare the ground for vegetables.
There are only seven water pumps and windmills In the whole of Galnachas village. Most of the machines are ancient and. since most people in Galnachas are children, women and old people, they have no strength to do the pumping.
Oupa Higoam wakes up each morning, sits on a chair and begins to pump. The water to used in house chores and to water the few plants in his backyard. Oupa Is now too old and tired to do such heavy work. He says: "I have to do it because nobody can do it for us. My wife and I are both weak."
Says one villager "What we need In this village are modern types of water pumps or windmills for Irrigation."
Galnachas people are waft ing for good rains, for good grazing — and. most of all. for the government's proposed agricultural scheme to start so that they can till the land and plant crops. Then their dream of regular meals will come true. — Gemini News