Nafuka

OMUSIMBOTI VILLAGE

Omusimboti Village

Omusimboti is a village situated about 17 Kilometres east of Oshakati in Namibia. It is located in the electoral constituency of Oshakati East in Oshana Region.

History

Omusimboti which is nicknamed “Iiti Iisimba” falls under the administration of Uukwambi traditional authority. The current Regional Councillor of Oshakati East, Lot Kuushomwa is the headman of the village, who took over the reign from his uncle Jekonia Moses. Omusimboti borders with Omeege, Iikuku, Ompundja and Oshipumbu Shomugongo. It is part of the history of Omusimboti village that Dr. Frans Aupa Indongo lay the foundation of business successes because his first shop was opened in 1961 at Omusimboti village.

Life

The village has more than 70 homesteads with the average of about 6 people per homestead. Most of such homesteads are made of tree poles, mud bricks with huts’ roofs made from the grass. As the trees are becoming scarce slowly but surely, some houses are being reshaped and modernised made from cement bricks with zinc, thatches and also fenced with mesh wires. Residents of Omusimboti village are small scaled farmers who depend mainly in cultivating mahangu, maize, sorghum, beans as well as herding cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys and chicken.

Education

Omusimboti has only one combined school and few pre-primary schools. Omusimboti Combined school has been under the leadership of a Charismatic leader Mr Martin Amupolo for many years of his life until he retired at the age of 60.Being a combined school from grade 1 to 10, this school has paved great success to many business people, teachers, nurses, engineers, leaders in both private and public institutions and entities as well as senior church leaders.

Infrastructure/Development

Omusimboti has one church, which is Omusimboti Catholic Parish. There is one clinic in the village known as Enkono clinic. This clinic has been build with the support of Dr. Frans Aupa Indongo prior to the independence of Namibia en thus it was named after his mother. With the development spreading across the country, Omusimboti has power supply which reaches the church, school, the two locations and all homesteads within the zone 500 metres of their surroundings. Omusimboti is not well off to have its large markets but it has mini markets, spaza shops which cater for the daily basic needs of the villagers. Eehama location is the most prominent refreshment and entertainment area or center within the village. Close to it there is also a soccer field. Road networking has also reached Omusimboti connecting the village to the nearby town of Oshakati. Oshakati-Ompundja-Eheke road has been constructed in the 2000’s. That gravel road run through Omusimboti village. Climate

Omusimboti is one of the villages in the prone area, therefore Efundja –the annual flooding in the northern part of the country – affects its villagers too. The flood water that flows through the Cuvelai basin via Okatana river damages the gravel road and break the bridges especially the one close to Eehama location. This cut off the residents Omusimboti from reaching services at Oshakati especially health services when they are referred to Oshakati hospital. During such flooding season most villagers lost their belongings such as food and animals and even their crops are being washed away thus afterwards they depend on the government to provide them with blankets and drought relief food. The most floods which hit the village so badly occurred in March 2011, which left most people homeless and without food for survival.

Notable residents

The well know businessman Dr. Frans Aupa Indongo and Monica Nashandi, the Namibian former diplomat and politician are originally from Omusimboti village.

References

--Nafuka (talk) 08:02, 7 October 2012 (UTC)