MTC employees, in partnership with MVA Fund and Namib Mills, made a generous donation of over 250 sleeping mattresses and essential food supplies to Cocoma Primary School in the Kavango East Region, Ndiyona circuit. The donation is a significant contribution extended as part of MTC Care, an employee-led initiative aimed to assist communities with funds voluntarily contributed by MTC employees.
Receiving the support, school principal Moses Ndumba expressed his appreciation for the efforts of MTC employees and their collaboration with MVA Fund and Namib Mills, highlighting the importance of such contributions in creating a conducive learning environment for the school learners.
“We are highly appreciative of the support that we have received today. Some of our learners have been sleeping on the ground and or on beds with no mattresses, which is highly uncomfortable. We are therefore grateful of the donation for we know what it means to the living condition of the pupils at the school.”
Elisabeth Massamba, Public Relations Officer of MTC, emphasized the significance of providing necessities like mattresses to ensure a good night’s sleep for learners. She underscored the connection between adequate rest and academic performance, stating, “We cannot talk about equality in education if the hostels, meant to be a safe space for learners, lack proper infrastructure. That is why as employees of MTC, having learnt of the condition at Cocoma primary, we decided to help with a little that we can.”
During a school tour, it became evident that while the donated mattresses are an asset, the school still requires additional support. The pressing needs include beds to accommodate the mattresses, a solid foundation for the hostel, and a protective fence to safeguard learners from nocturnal wildlife.
MTC Care has in the past done similar humanitarian donations with assisting leprosy patients in Omashare, Sanitary pads for learners in Koes, feeding the Men On The Side Of The Road in Windhoek, donation of an electric wheelchair for a student and a few occasions assisted single mothers whose shacks were destroyed by shack fires both in Windhoek and Walvis Bay.