The Kalkfeld settlement in Namibia, located between Otjiwarongo and Omaruru is home to about 5000 people whose lives are stuck in the pre-independence era. Apart from using bucket toilets, there are no proper houses or jobs and seemingly little is set to change. The biggest hardship people are facing however is the lack of clean water and sanitation.

Says resident Frederica Hanes, “We have to collect water far away. We only have the bush or buckets for toilets. A few years ago the government made money available for toilets.” Today however, only manholes remain as a reminder of what was once a sewer network.

Concurs another resident Herry Lawyer, “The toilets were never built but community members complained of the bucket toilets which is a 24-year old problem which government does not seem in interested in solving. The buckets here are made of corrugated iron sheets with no privacy and a row of buckets lined up underneath a wooden plant. There is waste over the floor, the walls and outside the area of the toilet.”

Of the allocated N$2 million allocated to the building in 2006, there is little evidence. According to Lawyer, residents were also promised temporary work by agriculture minister John Mutorwa when the government starts its project to bring water to the community. Mutorwa denies making promises, but confirms that bringing water to Kalkfeld is a government priority.