A bright future awaits Fikile
Fikile Simposi will never forget the day she was told that she would be receiving electricity from the TIDRET project in Swakopmund.The Towards an Inclusive Design of the Renewable Energy Transition (TIDRET) Project is an initiative led by the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) under the Climate Change and Inclusive Use of Natural Resources Project of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, administered through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
This life-changing event brought much joy to the community but more so to Fikile’s family of two.
Until recently, she was an unemployed housewife, but everything seems to be counting in her favour of late as she will be starting a new job soon.
“God has not forgotten me. I have been staying in the Federation’s house without electricity for two years, but now we have electricity. And I start a new job in the coming days. No words can explain the job in my heart.”
Days and nights were long without electricity, she said. They would use other people’s fridges to store meat, charge mobile phones and do laundry. This all came at a cost though. She said she would pay N$100 for a load of laundry and N$2 to charge her phone, which has a battery life of about 2 to 3 days before having to go back.
“I am extremely happy that I can now use my fridge for my meat, do my laundry and charge my phone. I can now say that I have everything at home.”
Life before electricity also meant when her house would run out of gas, she would have to make a fire outside.
“In Swakopmund it is hard because firewood is hard to come by, so we had to opt for pallets but that was also a struggle, or we needed to fork out more money to buy wood,” she said.
“My husband is very happy too.”
Further expressing her joy, she said that gone are the days they would have to wake up and look for matches. Now it is just a click of a button and then there is light. “Gone too are the days I have to do washing with my hands, which causes blisters and bleeding hands. My hands can rest now.”
Fikile said that they are equally excited for the next batch of residents who are to receive electricity. She urges them not to give up hope and reminds them of how long they waited for these houses.
“We waited for 17 years for these houses, until we finally got them. Just be patient. It will come. To the partners who made this possible, thank you for all your efforts and to Erongo Red that allowed the TIDRET project to put electricity for us.”