The chicken coop in Okahandja, Namibia

Location: Suburb of Okahandja, Namibia
Partner project: Ileni Tulikwafeni
Manager: Meme Kauna

Kauna looks after the solar-powered incubator here. She has experience with chickens, as she also breeds them privately.

Income secures education

The project...
...was founded in 2006 by Kauna as a community project. The name „Ileni Tulikwafeni“ means „Come all and let's work together.“ The project looks after over 300 children and young people in kindergarten, pre-school and afternoon programmes and provides them with daily meals in a soup kitchen.

Long queues in front of the soup kitchen in Okahandja, Namibia.

Corona...
...is affecting people in the community. Over the past year, the queues have become so long that up to 1,300 children and young people have received their only meal from the soup kitchen every day.

The location...
...is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Namibia. In the „Five Rand“ area, an informal settlement, thousands of people live in the most undignified conditions.

steps for children...
...has been a cooperation partner since the end of 2019. We are building a chicken farm here as an income-generating measure. The henhouse was completed in October 2020 and laying hens and a rooster have already moved in. The solar-powered hatchery, which can hold over 500 eggs, has also been put into operation.

What happens to the eggs?
Some of the eggs are sold. Another part is sent to the solar incubation station so that chicks can hatch there within about a month in appropriate humidity and warmth.

What happens to the chicks?
Once the chicks have hatched, some are sold and some are reared. These chickens are then either sold or used as laying hens for the henhouse.

The current situation:
Due to the coronavirus crisis, not much has been sold yet. We therefore need patience until this measure actually generates a profit and can actually finance the project's educational programmes.

Structural measures......started at the end of 2020: the construction of a new school building with 2 classrooms and separate toilets for girls and boys, financed by donors from steps for children. Afternoon lessons will take place here. It is planned that the teachers' salaries will be partly financed by sales in connection with the chicken coop and the incubator.