Houses for Namibia’s golden girls
Nedbank Namibia and MTC officially handed over two houses to our Namibian Olympians Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi during the Davin Sports Trust Wine Pairing Auction at the Windhoek Country Club and Resort last week.The project was initiated in 2020 by Nedbank Namibia when representatives from the bank attended a dinner hosted by the Janine & Suzelle Davin Sport Trust, which is a Namibian charity organisation that aims to nurture and develop young sport stars.
At the 2020 event, athletics coach, Henk Botha, was awarded a platform to speak on his athletics developmental programme. He introduced Masilingi as one of the athletes he was training, and in his address gave a brief overview of her background and asked for any contributions to aid in her cause of achieving the dream of becoming one of the greatest athletes the country will ever produce.
That night, Nedbank Namibia pledged to construct a house for Masilingi, which was influenced by the fact that she and her grandmother had been living in an informal settlement in Rundu.
After Masilingi and Mboma arrived on the athletics scene and scooped international accolades, MTC came on board to collaborate with Nedbank Namibia in the construction of Masilingi’s house, adding Mboma to the list of beneficiaries.
Speaking at the handover, Nedbank Namibia Chief Financial Officer, JG van Graan, applauded the Davin Sports Trust for their contributions to the Namibian sports fraternity, and for assisting in making sure Masilingi realises her dream of building a house for her grandmother.
“The Davin Sports Trust is about hope, inspiration, and changing people’s livelihoods. Beatrice and Christine are prime examples of exactly that. Two years ago, before they became household names in Namibia and on the international scene, Beatrice shared her dream of providing a proper house for her grandmother. Now two years later, we are proud to officially hand over the key to her house, not only to Beatrice but to Christine as well,” Van Graan said.
“Beatrice and Christine, you’ve provided hope and inspiration to the entire Namibian nation. Continue doing what you do, but most importantly, the help and support you’ve received today, and will still receive – pay it forward to your families, to your communities, and more importantly, to the generations to come,” Van Graan concluded.
The integral part of the housing project has been completed, with the grand handover ceremony to be held at the two champion’s houses in Rundu next year.