The Region

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Mayana lies in the North of Namibia, 20 km east of Rundu in between the Okavango River and the dirt road D3402.

This rural area is extremely poor, a large part of the population is without jobs, the HIV infection rate is extremely high and is very likely to exceed any official statistic. Thus, most kraals – residential units for families or extended families – are mainly inhabited by older people and children. The generation “in the middle”, that part of the family that usually works and provides the family income – literally dies away.

Due to the extreme poverty, even young people with a good education find no jobs. Competition in Rundu is high, and the only job opportunities lie with N’Kwazi Lodge and the adjacent Mayana Lodge area which was bought for social projects and currently employs 15 people in the agricultural sector.

With regard to the ecological situation, the soil in the Mayana area consists mainly of infertile sand. Thus, compost and mulch form essential parts of any agricultural activity.

Although the river carries water all year long, the water supply is still one of the major problems of this region. There are no pumps to get the water further inland, so that the people are forced to ensure their water supply on a day-to-day basis. They carry the relevant amount on their heads, in many cases miles and miles. This is why fields can only be cultivated during the rainy season while people have to live on their reserves during the dry season between May and November – most of the time, these supplies are used up as early as in September. Thus, hunger constitutes another major problem until March when the first harvests are brought in from the fields in this region.

Due to the infertile soil, farmers are forced to uproot and reduce the forest to a dramatic extent.

While the better-off inhabitants keep their own livestock, mainly goats and cattle, some chickens and pigs, they, too, are faced with a shortage of supplies in the dry season, and the animals are having a hard time finding enough food to get by.

Some farmers start up fruit and vegetable gardens right by the river which is problematic for various reasons: the fields get flooded by the swelling river in the rainy season before the main harvest so that the harvest turns out very poor.

Furthermore, the fields contribute to an uncontrolled reproduction of vermins such as fruit flies, caterpillars, white flies, nematodes, as well as fungus and virus related diseases since no pesticides are used. If, however, farmers were to use pesticides, this would sensibly disturb the river’s balance.

The fences surrounding these fields are made of branches taken from trees from a particularly sensitive area just by the riverside. The farmers are also cutting down the reeds by the riverside, thus influencing the Okavango’s flow velocity to an extent that can be felt as far away as in Botswana.

Thus, the long-term abandonment of these fields with no replacement of any kind is the only option offering yielding proceeds all year long without destroying the sensitive ecology of the river system. Due to the more urgent survival problems, most of the households most be considered underprivileged with regard to access to education.

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