Our Community
Situational overview of the Mix informal settlement area
Mix Informal Settlement Area (MISA) is located about 20km north of Windhoek, Namibia, on five farm portions – 7, 8, 35, 36 and remainder of farm Emmarentia No. 380. The MISA has about population of 11 000+ inhabitants and is home to 4 000+ households. The MISA was formally known as Berghoff. Mix is named after German Heiner Mix who allowed people to settle on his 50-hectare plot in the 1980s. After Mix's death in 1999, the settlement mushroomed because there was no landlord. At MISA, there was only one tap-water source. To get water one needed to wake up early in the morning to avoid long queues and pay up to N$1 per 25 liters of water. Parents would send their children to a boarding school at Omaruru, namely Ongeama primary school, due to lack of money to pay for transport to and from Windhoek schools. At the time, the majority of people were working in the farms or as domestic workers. Children spent the whole school term without visiting their parents, a situation that negatively affected many of them.
Nowadays some of the children are accessing education from neighboring communities, such as Windhoek Urban and Okahandja town. During the 1980s and 1990s, there were only one to two cars used to transport MISA residents to Windhoek city. People at MISA do not have access to city services, like schools, hospitals, electricity and sanitation. People are still going to the bushes to relieve themselves. To access services inhabitants, have to travel to Windhoek. In 2006 a lengthy legal and political battle started after a company owned by Secretary to Namibian Cabinet member, Frans Kapofi, bought the MISA plot and wanted the residents to leave. MISA residents in turn requested the government to expropriate the land. In November 2010, government acquired the land and promised to develop the area. MISA has had a four communal standpipe system for water supply since 2015.
The majority of the households in MISA are living below the Namibia poverty line. Many parents do not understand the importance of education and encouraging their children to attend school. MISA children are living on the streets; are victim of child abuse and neglect; have access to alcohol; rarely complete primary school or secondary school level. These factors result in long-term and short-term consequences for children, including high levels of teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, and engaging in anti-social behaviors and baby dumping. According to Associated Press Agency (2012), 40 babies and fetuses were found dumped in Windhoek.
The Auguste Community aid Project has found in its research that this community is in dire need of intervention in order to focus children and youth on their education and being successful in life. The founder of the Auguste Community aid Project, Auguste Shikongo, has first-hand experience of the MISA.