Old Mutual helps feed needy countrywide
By Confidente Reporter
OLD Mutual Namibia donated food packages to vulnerable communities in the Erongo, Khomas and Karas regions over the past week as part of a N$1 million food delivery outreach project.
The insurance company recently committed N$5 million towards nationwide efforts to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus and to help address some of the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Of the N$5 million, N$1 million was set aside to provide food aid to the poor and vulnerable communities across all 14 regions of the country.
“In order to ensure that the N$1 million worth of basic supplies equitably benefit our communities across all the regions, we have worked out a proportional budget allocation for each region, based on the latest national population figures,” Old Mutual branch manager at Keetmanshoop Bernhardt Vries said during the handover of food parcels for the //Karas region.
Khomas region, the biggest beneficiary of the donations, received the first delivery of food supplies worth N$208 000, which aimed to support about 400 homeless individuals and families temporarily sheltered at the Teacher’s Resource Centre in Katutura and Khomasdal stadium for the duration of the lockdown period.
Erongo region received the second delivery of food supplies with a total value of N6 848.
93 to support 325 vulnerable individuals at Omaruru and Usakos.
Karas region, in particular the towns of Keetmanshoop, Karasburg, Koës, Kosis and Rosh Pinah received 160 food hampers valued at about N$94 400. More parcels will be handed over in the coming days in the remaining regions.
The parcels generally consist of non-perishable tinned and dried foods, as well as basic toiletries to provide some relief to those already vulnerable communities who have been placed at risk by the lockdown restrictions and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Old Mutual also donated two machines worth about N$2.7 million to the National Institute of Pathology (NIP) to enhance the institution’s testing capacity for the novel coronavirus. The machines are used to prepare samples for testing, a function that was previously performed manually.
The company further spent about N$1.7 million to acquire more testing equipment that would help broaden the scale of testing and the procurement of test kits, as well as N million to strengthen contact tracing capacity.
“As a caring and responsible business, it warms our hearts to know that we can make a difference in the lives of our fellow citizens. But we remain alert to the fact that we can only make a big difference when many actors make contributions to this human cause and we believe that our contribution provides such inspiration to others,” the company’s executive for marketing, communication and customer strategy, Ndangi Katoma said.