Namib Independent Issue 123

Nam

ib IndependentGreat news for the coast!

[email protected] Issue 123 - Thursday, 30 October 2014 to Wednesday, 5 November 2014

CRAYFISH SEASON SEASONNEW WOMEN'S GYM GREASY but StICkY bREASt CANCER AWARENESS

free!

Tel: 064 200497

02 06 1608

Continued on Page 3

‘Grove Mall’ For Walvis Bay

See Full Story on Page 3

Walvis Bay Toddler Killed by Reckless Driver

Tanya Calitz

In a tragic incident, a toddler was allegedly knocked over and killed by a reckless driver of a Mitsubishi mini bus on Monday morning in Fisant Street, Kuisebmond. According to Chief Inspector Erastus Iikuyu, the three-and-a-half-year-old toddler, Loide

Mufangwa was accompanied by an adult, who saw him over the road.

Chief Inspector Iikuyu explained, “From what we understand the adult did not cross the road with the boy, but told him that it was clear and he should cross the road to get to school.”

the toddler then crossed the

road by himself when the mini bus came around the corner, allegedly speeding. Loide was sadly in the way of the mini bus and sustained fatal injuries upon impact.

According to St Gabriel Community Ambulance, they resuscitated the boy, but he was unfortunately declared dead by a doctor upon arrival at the

hospital. At the scene it appeared

that the boy had suffered several head injuries and internal bleeding. Police are currently investigating a case of Culpable Homicide, and the driver of the mini bus has not been

Thursday, 30 October 20142 | News

Tel (+264 64) 200 497 Email [email protected]

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Editorial Tanya Calitz [email protected]

Design Maggie’s Attic Graphic Design [email protected]

Address 127TheoBenGurirabStreet(MVAOfficeComplex),POBox5085,WalvisBay,Namibia

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New Women’s Gym in Swakop

Tara van Eck

Ruth Venter, the new owner of Curves, welcomed the Swakopmund community this week on Monday at the opening of her new woman-only gym situated in the Vineta centre.

Ladies and gentlemen came from all walks of the Swakopmund community, clearly attracted by the sounds of West Coast FM with the lovely Carlichia hosting the outside live broadcast for the grand opening. the School of Dance hosted a Zumba class with all the members of Curves joining in on the fun. Curiosity not only attracted all our lovely ladies at the coast, but men gathered outside baffled by this women-only gym concept. Needless to say, the opening of Curves in Swakopmund proved to be well received by the coastal community.

“We absolutely love the name Curves. In a society where woman are forced to be skinny it is refreshing to be a part of the Curves family, where we are proud to be healthy and fit. Curves allows women to feel comfortable within their own skin, which is empowering to us,” members of Curves expressed their gratitude towards Ruth Venter for bringing this new and inspiring fitness initiative to the coastal town of Swakopmund.

For more information about Curves get in touch with Ruth on 064-46 2001

Thursday, 30 October 2014 | 3 News

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1Walvis Bay Toddler Killed by Reckless Driver

Tanya Calitz

Safland Namibia, the company behind the development of the Grove Mall in Windhoek, which was officially opened last week, have confirmed that they will be developing a mall in keeping with the high standards of the Grove Mall, on erf 4451, once specifically allocated for the long-awaited truck port that has officially fallen by the wayside.

According to Safland Property Group’s Leasing Director Mirinda van der Merwe, the Dune Mall development will be based on the Grove Mall Concept in Windhoek, only a little smaller.

“the plan is to develop a 25 000m² mall on the property, but we do not have a schematic proposal for this specific development as yet. It is currently being drawn up,” van der Merwe said. Safland Namibia has worked on many mall projects, which include the recently opened Grove Mall in Windhoek, Gwashamba Mall in Ondangwa, and town Square in Otjiwarongo.

the land earmarked for the project has been in the spotlight a few times in regards to the much promised truck port that has been in the making for 20 years. this dream has finally come crashing down, and the municipality said that the location is no longer viable for a truck port based on the new town development plans for Walvis bay.

“Council is still of the opinion that a truck port is essential for Walvis bay. However, in line with the recently adopted Integrated urban Spatial Development Framework (IuSDF) of Walvis bay and the new SADC Gateway terminal development of Namport, the entrance road from Swakopmund will have to be re-routed.

“thus, the site in question no longer qualifies as a suitable location for the envisaged truck port. the idea of the truck port is still on the table and various sites are being looked at to pave the way for such a development in Walvis bay,” Municipal Public Relation Manager, kevin Adams said.

before the Shopping Complex Project

‘Grove Mall’ For Walvis

Photo: West Coast Safety Initiative

charged yet. In light of this, the Motor

Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA), released a shocking statement this week, saying that more than 100 people were involved in accidents on Namibian roads over the past weekend. According to Mona-Liza Garises, the head of corporate communications at the MVA service centre, 115 persons were involved in 44 accidents

between Friday and Sunday. Erongo Region has been no

exception and experiences motor vehicle accidents on a weekly basis. thus far, the MVA's call centre recorded 2 596 road crashes, 4 618 injuries and 533 deaths as a result of road crashes this year. the media statement said most of the crashes occurred at night and in the early hours of the morning, a cause for concern as night-time driving presents its own challenges with regards to visibility.

can kick off, the erf needs to be rezoned from a light industrial status to a commercial status. According to the municipality the 2006 sales agreement, which outlined the conditions, has been scrapped, thus the new development can take flight.

However, in previous interviews with the municipality it was established that the land was originally sold to the initial truck port developers at a discounted price, due to the fact that they wanted to develop a truck port and that the land was to be used exclusively for the development of a truck port. this raised the question whether the land in question will now be sold at the current market value, and if the municipality will benefit financially from the new arrangement.

to this the municipality responded, “the truck port erf was sold to the developer at a subsidised price, subject to the provision of services to the area by the developer. Another condition was that the developer would have to prepare a general plan.”

Van der Merwe stated that the development will commence as soon as 2015.

We will also create a Facebook page very soon where the people can make suggestions as to what they would like to see in the mall,” van der Merwe concluded.


Anonymous Tip-Off Service to Help Police

Lavrenty Repin

Namibia is set to become the second country in Africa to implement the Crime Stoppers Programme after a delegation from the South African Police Service visited Namibia recently.

Crime Stoppers was developed by a police officer in the 1970s in uSA, as a tool to work closer with the community towards a crime-free society. the idea is to provide a toll-free number where members of the community can call in at any time and provide tip-offs completely anonymously. the calls are never recorded and personal information is not asked, so as to protect the identity of the caller. Also, in some variations of the philosophy, successful tip-offs may collect a reward.

This is not the first time Namibia has introduced a toll-free number, having launched the 302 302 number in 2006 to provide national access to crime prevention. Within a year the number was being misused to the point where the police received an average of 50 prank calls per day. that the calls are recorded may be a deterrent for some; pranks calls may become even worse with the introduction of an anonymous number. Also, the anonymity of the call could be used as a form of vengeance against innocent members of the public causing unnecessary legal issues.

Mr Nederlof from the Swakopmund Neighbourhood Watch however believes that an anonymous tip off number will be of a great benefit for Namibia.

“We receive up to a thousand phone calls a month,” Mr Nederlof said, confirming that his office records every phone call. “It is difficult to split how many of them are crime related and how many are things like ‘my dog ran away’ or ‘please watch my house’.”

but many callers, Mr Nederlof added, want to keep their identity anonymous; including people calling from nightclubs to report drug-dealing and callers from Mondesa and Kuisebmund reporting stolen goods’ sales at local houses.

“then we will go and raid the house,” he said. He also

pointed out that there have been virtually no prank calls to the number, estimating it to be around four or five in the past 20 months.

In South Africa, there are many success stories attributed to the Crime Stoppers program, including an incident where a farther was arrested and convicted after a friend of the family suspected he had been abusing his daughters for more than 10 years. In that incident the mother was severely beaten and at times, kept chained up. In another, six foreign nationals introduced young girls to drugs, and then fuelled their addiction by committing them to prostitution. More than 20 girls were freed from this child sex ring due to an anonymous tip-off.

In the past two years more than 45 000 people were arrested in South Africa, and drugs and property of more than R1 billion were seized as a result of anonymous tip-offs. In the 1994 elections, the Crime Stoppers programme played a significant role in assisting to identify and address the intimidation of voters, including gathering information on violence and threats that aimed to create instability.

Crime Stoppers in the united States has been responsible for more than half a million arrests and more than uS$4 billion in recovered property since its introduction.

the Namibian tip-off service will be launched early next year.


Tyremart – Better Service for the Coast

Siglinde de Villiers

Many local residents have wondered what has happened to Dunlop, since it looks like they have moved out of Walvis Bay. Instead, Tyremart has replaced Dunlop, bringing a greater variety of tyre brands to the coast, including those that were sold by Dunlop.

tyremart has taken over the old Dunlop shop and service centre and given the whole place a facelift during the past months.

kobus Alberts, branch Manager, told the Namib Independent, “tyremart is a franchise from South Africa and currently we only have four Tyremart offices in Namibia: Walvis bay, Swakopmund, Otjiwarongo and Oshakati.”

How does the new franchise benefit local customers?

“We have a wider variety of tyres and brands that we can sell to customers at a very good price. these include brands like Michelin, GoodYear and Continental. Previously the prices for these brands were very high because they had to be bought separately in order to sell, now they form part of our parts range,” Alberts explained.

“this does not mean that we have totally moved away from Dunlop, as it still is one of our main brands.”

Most of the tyres are imported from South Africa. In addition, tyremart also has a retreading factory in Otjiwarongo.

“It is so much cheaper to buy a retread tyre instead of a new tyre, thus a lot of clients opt for this service. On average, we retread about 250 tyres a month,” Alberts disclosed.

Apart from brand new royal blue uniforms for all the staff members, the building was given a new wash of paint; blue, grey and white reflecting the tyremart brand colours. In addition, new posters and banners were put up and the facility was fitted with various light boxes. Even the outside of the building has been decorated with the tyremart logo, a light fixture that demands attention at night.

“The building is definitely different to what it was, and we have to start

thinking of expanding our present staff in the near future,” Alberts added.

During the eight months of the transition period from Dunlop to tyremart, business continued as usual.

“Our service continued and clientele actually picked up, because we had a lot of curious people who came and took a look at what was happening. We still do all the old jobs, just with a better service quality,” Alberts explained.

According to Alberts, tyremart runs regular specials as well as competitions, which are advertised in the newspapers. this week, Sheehama, the latest winner of a competition hosted by tyremart, won a music jukebox system for his car.

Sheehama exclaimed with delight, “This is the first time in my life that I won anything.”

As the tyre business at the coast increases, tyremart has plans in the pipeline for future expansion, especially where space is concerned.

Greasy But Sticky – The Namibian Oil Industry

Lavrenty Repin

Chariot Oil and Gas, one of the largest foreign oil exploration companies in Namibia, chose not to renew two oil exploration blocks off our northern coast in the same week that an unrelated Malaysian businessman sold a Namibian oil EPL to Shell for a reported N$220 million.

the foundation of oil business in Namibia really is built only speculation and some test results. there are school of thoughts that believe there is no potential oil in Namibia at all, while others are adamant that it will be found in a matter of years or even months. While people are fighting over if or if not, seismic vessels are criss-crossing Namibian oceans, costing an estimated N$100 000 per kilometre to conduct their research and utilising “airgun” technology in the process. Posing many risks to the marine life of our ocean, it is blamed for the declining fishing sector in Namibia. After the seismic activity comes the drilling of the wells, which costs in the range of N$1 billion. We have drilled 18 wells so far, each dryer than the last.

On the other hand, an area similar to the Walvis basin off the coast of uk has been drilled hundreds of times, making the Namibian coast, as one oil company put it, “virtually unexplored”. Yet the Namibian industry profile is well suited for large scale mining, with little taxing and a stable economic and political environment. these two factors, namely safety and hope, make speculating about Namibia’s oil industry so lucrative for the stock exchange gurus, since human nature

quickly believes that “if it is so unexplored there is got be something!”

Essentially, the stock market is where international companies make a name and a buck. Do not be fooled, little Namibia has a tremendous impact on the world stock market. For instance, Chariot fell a drastic 18 percent on the stock exchange in one day last year February, after announcing that it was abandoning an oil well in Namibia.

Although Chariot has dropped two EPLs, they have in the meantime renewed their southern block EPL license this year, under the condition of processing up to 1 500km² of 3D seismic work in the three-year timeframe. It is all about de-risking an EPL, giving investors a hope to latch onto and luring stock prices into rising. then, it almost does not matter if a borehole is dry (since everything is still so unexplored).

Not to be ignored is the immediate business of buying and selling EPLs, which is pocket change to them but treasure to us. the whole of Namibia was divided into blocks of land that could be leased for oil exploration and are traded and sold between parties. At present, almost 70 such blocks have some exploration going on, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy. Nearly all are working along the length of the Atlantic Ocean and the coastline.

these blocks are in the hands of 30 companies who are obliged to carry out exploration work on the EPLs, as part of the three-year EPL agreement. the cost for acquiring such an EPL from the government is the transfer license fee of up to N$30 000, after which the company or private individual is at privy to sell it to interested, (often)

international companies at sometimes ridiculously inflated prices. For all the deals that go through, though, there are hundreds that do not. the holder of this block has to provide brief exploration reports every three months, in-depth annual reports and a final report if the holder wishes to extend the license – exploration on this scale is vastly expensive, and failure to provide adequate prove of exploration means you lose the block. Although there is a possibility to make quite a penny, one needs to invest in the expensive high risk exploration phase, just to be able to present the EPL.

Namibia continues to attract attention from the world’s biggest oil companies, including bP and Shell, even after 18 wells in past decades failed to find any commercial deposits of crude oil. Indeed, all but one were entirely dry, and the exception, known as “Wingat-1 well” proved to be of sub-commercial value. Yet even with the odds at “maybe one to 17,” international companies continue to stretch our imaginations and their already deep pockets, while speculators make big bucks on the industry driven stock market.

there is the reason why, in one week, we can see international companies suddenly pulling out and others buying in, swapping decisions and making outrages promises. this makes money, but not for us.

It is not all bad news for Namibia, as these companies bring indirect investment through the use of our products and resources, but to be on the safe side, save your excitement until actual, real, commercially viable oil is found.

Thursday, 30 October 2014 | 7

Life After Prison – a Daily Battle of SurvivalSiglinde de Villiers

“If I can have a roof over my head I will not go back to prison, but the circumstances of life are very tough with to cope outside.”

So says Christian kheiseb, an ex-convict who has been in and out of prison since he was 12 for various crimes such as theft, assault and armed robbery. Now, having reached the age of 47, he is determined to keep his record clean and stay out of prison. For Christian, however, this is not an easy goal because obtaining life’s basic necessities such as food, water and housing, things that we mostly take for granted, is a harrowing and uncertain battle every day.

Christian is just one of many prisoners that are trapped in the vicious cycle of catch and release.

“It is very difficult to reintegrate

prisoners into modern society,” he explains. “Many who get released have nowhere to go and end up on the street. Work is nearly impossible to find and eventually the hunger pangs force one to steal and get caught again, for a prison sentence is better than a death sentence of slow starvation.”

the clouds of doom were already cast over Christian since he was a child.

“I grew up in an abusive family. My brothers, who were much older than me, used to molest me. I could not talk to anybody about it and it has affected me psychologically up to this day,” Christian discloses. “I am completely alone, my parents have passed away and all my other family avoids me because of my criminal activities.”

Christian takes out a birth certificate from his backpack, one of his few

possessions, and indicates the empty blocks of his parents birth days. “I wish that I had a family member who cared enough to at least tell me when my parents were born,” he says. Very few people in Christian’s shoes before independence had any chance of escaping the spiral of disaster they were flung into.

According to Christian, when prisoners get released they are given just enough money to take them to the place where they were arrested at. thus, released in January 2013, Christian found himself on a train to Otjiwarongo with a blanket and matress he was given in prison.

“I would sleep on the floor underneath the Matarra (an iron structure), and collect materials with which I could build a house. the ground was very hard, but at least I was protected from the rain,”

Christian explains. then, in August last year, Christian decided to come to Walvis bay.

“I thought that life was easier at the coast and that there was more work to be found than in Otjiwarongo, so this one guy with a truck offered to bring all my collected materials to the coast. He dumped it all beneath the long lamppost there and left. I cannot afford N$600 a month to rent a place to build my house so I went to the Municipality so that they could help me out temporarily because I had nowhere to go, but they were not willing to assist,” he relates his struggles.

Set apart from the rest of kuisebmond and surrounded by lonely desert, Christian managed to build a five square metre structure to sleep in.

“It’s the first time in my life to own a house and now I am a responsible person. As long as I can have a roof over my head I will not go to back to prison,” Christian emphasises. However, food and water still remain a problem on most days.

“there is a lady in town that helps me with food now and then. So once a month I go there,” Christian says. Most days he spends on the rubbish dump, collecting bottles and things to sell at recycling centres or at the scrapyard.

“the only way for me to get water is to carry it all the way from the municipality taps in town,” he adds. “I try very hard to find work, I even managed to buy a cheap cellphone so that I can leave my number with people. Where I am staying right now is illegal, but if I can get a job I

can go stay at a legal place somewhere.” During his prison sentence Christian has

completed a course in painting and continues to attend his counselling sessions with local social workers.

Christian telling his life story

News

Christian's home in the middle of nowhere

Walvis Tycoons Donate to MunicipalityTanya Calitz

Two business tycoons from Walvis Bay came together last week and generously donated to the Walvis Bay Municipality to assist them with their charitable projects.

Well-known businessman John Savva bigheartedly donated one of his erven at Aphrodite beach (which amounted to N$450,000) to the municipality, but gave them the cash amount instead to save them the efforts of selling the plot.

“both Mr Savva and Mr Hart have made substantial contributions in terms of social and economic investments in Walvis bay (and Namibia), which have benefited a vast number of people. Some of the beneficiaries include some of the most vulnerable people in our society,” Mayor uillika Nambahu said during her thank-you speech last Friday.

Another person she thanked was entrepreneur and businessman Wayne Hart, a shareholder and the managing director of Freddie Fish Processors, who kindly donated a mobile home to the Municipality to be used for a worthy

community cause. the unit would be ideally suited for a clinic, school rooms or offices for senior citizens, but the exact use has not been established yet.

Mr Hart handing over his mobile home

Mr John Savva handing over his cheque

Thursday, 30 October 20148 |

Crayfish Season OpenNews

Siglinde de Villiers

Many coastal residents are eagerly counting down the days to the start of the annual crayfish season. With growing anticipation, divers are getting their gear ready, keeping an eye on the time and tide for Saturday, 1 November.

Despite the fact that surfing sites have predicted three-metre-waves and a rough ocean for the first day of November, many passionate divers have expressed the sentiment that they will not miss the first day of the crayfish season for the world.

An avid diver told the Namib Independent, “One just has to go, even if the ocean is rough. It would be wrong not to dive with the season opening.”

Crayfish hide away under rocks and in crevices, feeding on mussels, barnacles and

urchins. they themselves are preyed upon by octopus, Cape fur seals and dogsharks. the rock lobster life cycle is very complex. they have among the longest larval development known for any marine creature, going through 14 moult stages. Fertilised eggs, numbering between 100 000 and 500 000, are carried under the tail of the female for four to six months. Five months later, they transform into larva and at 20 months, they metamorphose into miniature rock lobsters. Still living on plankton, they move up and down the water column on a daily cycle, coming up near the surface at night before swimming deeper during the day – until they settle on a rocky substrate, generally at depths of less than 40m.

After setting, they develop pigment and moult into bottom dwelling juvenile lobsters, identical to adults. to increase size, a rock lobster must shed its shell and grow a new larger

one which is initially soft, leaving it very vulnerable to predators. It absorbs water rapidly and expands to its new size. the shell hardens within a few days, taking longer to thicken to full strength. Moulting frequency and times depend on age and sex. Legal size is attained in five to ten years, depending on the sex of the lobster, area and growth rates. the largest rock lobsters on record were 58cm in total body length. Rock lobsters may live for over 30 years.

the minimum size and daily catch limits remain unchanged. Crayfish have to be a minimum of 65mm carapace length. the maximum number that a person may catch and retain is seven per day. No more than 21 lobsters may be transported on a vehicle at a time. It remains illegal to sell crayfish without a commercial permit, and heavy fines can be charged for the transgression of any of these laws.

Duck, Duck Go?

Lavrenty Repin

“Duck Duck Go” is a silly name for a reputable search engine. Of course, “Google” is equally as silly, not to mention “Yahoo” which is so silly that Monty Python is asking for their joke back. But silly names is the only thing that Duck Duck Go has in common with the well-known search engines of the world.

this rapidly growing search engine is combating the wave of mistrust aimed at well-known companies like Facebook, Google and twitter, who store your personal information and use it to push advertisements that may be relevant to you. However, these same frameworks also allow companies and governments to spy on what you search.

According to massive leaks by Edward Snowden, governments are keeping records of all your activity on the internet and are capable of tracking you throughout the world. this may not be of immediate worry to someone that has not committed any crimes, but even so your information is not safe; whether it is your creative information or a novel business idea.

the NSA has the mandate to use any suspicious internet activity against you, which means

uncomfortable searches on the airplane and potentially life-altering m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g s . basically, it is enough to have a friend on Facebook whose friend’s friend follows a terrorist group on twitter to land yourself on the NSA blacklist, and you would not even know it.

but at least when it comes to search engines, you now have a choice. www.duckduckgo.com dates back to 2008, and is a community driven search engine that has all the perks of google; images, news and millions of indexed pages, minus the privacy invasion. As they explain,

“From funny videos to health and finance questions, searches are a reflection of your personal life. that is why we do not collect or share personal information.”

the site has been growing steadily for the past six years and is known as Google’s most fierce, yet unlikely competitor. If, like me, you are pretty sick of cookies, constant tracking and monitoring, repetitive advertisements and a general feeling of paranoia every time you log on, just duck, duck and go hidden.


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‘Soup Kitchen’ for Deserted DRC Dogs

Tara van Eck

Michelle and Madeleine Strydom have taken the animals of the informal settlement DRC in Swakopmund under their wings, with the help of the Food Lovers’ Market, Spur and friends.

Leftover food is sponsored every Monday, Wednesday

and Friday. the ladies prepare the food and load it into a big container on a bakkie. Every road in the DRC is then carefully scanned to see if they missed a hungry animal. I was fortunate to ride along and experience this amazing act of kindness first hand. According to Madeleine it all started in May this year when they saw a need for somebody to look after the animals. We will

continue feeding the animals for as long as we possibly can,” Madelaine told the paper on a feeding outing.

All the dogs and even the cats gather around, awaiting their feast. the animals already know Michelle and Madelaine, they recognise the sound of their voices and even run towards the bakkie, greeting the ladies with friendly wagging tails.

Even the DRC children run out of their shacks with little bowls to help feed the dogs. Not only do these women feed

the animals, they even take care of them. Madeleine took a sick puppy from the DRC to the vet in Swakopmund and nursed him back to health. the family of the puppy she helped, is paying Madeleine back every month for the vet’s bill.

“to see the look on these little kids’ faces, playing with their dogs and cats, is priceless,” says Madeleine. Clearly the DRC is blessed to have these amazing women care for the animals with their big hearts and helping hands. “We feel that it is our duty as a community to help where we can, so we just do it,” Michelle said. Proving her

point, she excused herself from the interview when she heard a hungry dog barking down the road and went to help it.

“A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”

Jack London

“Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. they serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. ”

Roger A. Caras


Your Namib Independent

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Namport Erongo Business & Tourism Expo Supplement

Belgian Choclatique – For the Love of Chocolate

In 2011, Adelaine Bruwer had a dream. A dream of high quality chocolate, handmade to perfection. After some research, a trip to Huguenot Fine Chocolates in South Africa and professional training, Belgian Choclatique opened its doors for the first time in December 2014 in Walvis Bay.

belgian Choclatique, situated at the corner of 16th Road and Sam Nujoma Avenue opposite the DbN, uses only barry Callebaut Chocolate. As they are the world’s leading chocolate producers, this ensures unrivalled quality. A key concept of Adelaine’s dream come true is the incredible amount of love and attention to detail that goes into every single piece of chocolate produced. the beauty and quality of the handmade chocolates are praised by clients, local and international alike.

Adelaine is especially proud of the fact that she has been able to export her chocolate already, to France in 2013 and the uk in 2014. Mrs Joanne Downie, who ordered photo printed chocolate gifts for her wedding in England, was highly impressed with the quality of the products.

“Everybody was so complimentary on the chocolates and had never seen anything like it before. We really cannot thank you enough nor give enough praise for the most beautiful job you did in making them. Everybody was amazed by them!” the happy bride wrote.

belgian Choclatique is as innovative

and flexible as the chocolates they produce and are confident that they will stand the test in time. Hopes to grow even bigger in the near future are strengthened by the number of leading companies that have discovered Belgian Choclatique’s amazing products. Legacy and Protea Hotels across the country order from Adelaine, and even big corporations like bidvest, Namport, NMH and Rolls Royce use specially made chocolates as thank-you and corporate gifts.

Adelaine built her dream business on the HEARt values, combining them with her love and passion for chocolate, and aims to make the finest chocolates Namibia has ever seen.

the HEARt values are an iconic representation of the love and passion belgian Choclatique stands for, so Adelaine.

“HEARt stands for Heart and soul, Expert knowledge, Art, Radiant and trusted team. We promise to keep making our chocolates from the heart, achieving quality beyond the ordinary. We never stop learning and share knowledge in the team because we believe that exceptional quality comes from expertise as well as passion,” explains Adelaine. “Every piece of chocolate is its own little work of art, crafted to perfection. Our unique concepts let customers fall in love with our chocolates every time, and our closely-knit team of dedicated staff ensures that we are able to respond to the varying consumer preferences in Namibia.”

Thursday, 30 October 2014 | 11 Namport Erongo Business & Tourism Expo Supplement

29 October to 01 November2014

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Growing your own vegetable garden

The days are getting longer, you’ve put your winter jackets away for another year and that dull tundra out back is beginning to resemble your yard again. That’s right … spring is finally here and that means it’s time to get your home garden going!

1. Planning Your Vegetable Gardento have that lush garden full of delicious fruits and veggies come summertime, you’ve got to make sure your seeds have the best possible growing environment. Nothing accomplishes this more than taking a little time to plan your garden.

the two most important factors to consider are space and the types of fruits, vegetables and herbs you want to plant. Some fruits and vegetables [e.g. tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes, onions] can be grown in a pretty small space. Others need several feet to ‘spread out’ and grow properly such as

In 3 Easy Stepspeas, beans, squash, melons, and pumpkins. So before you plant, decide on how big or small you want your garden to be, and read the back of the seed packets to learn how much planting space is needed.

2. Preparing Your Vegetable GardenNow that you have the perfect plan, it’s time to get in touch with your garden – literally! Loosen the soil with a garden rake, hoe or shovel and add some kind of organic matter to the existing ground.

Ideally, you want to loosen the soil to 12 – 18 inches deep. Depending on what kind of condition the soil is in you may have to add some water and let it soak in for a day or so—it will make digging much easier. the soil should be damp, not wet since that can destroy its structure. At this point you can begin adding your organic material—something like composted manure will work perfectly. You’ll want to spread roughly 4-6 inches of this material on top of the loosened soil. Let the organic material rest on top for a few days, and then work it into the soil.

3. Planting Your Vegetable GardenNow you’re ready to begin planting. Different plants require different depths in the soil but generally, plant seeds at a depth that is twice their diameter. Following this rule, you’ll find

that the smallest seeds will be planted just beneath the surface.

Depth & SpacingWhile the planting depth does differ somewhat, generally speaking seeds should be planted in a row 2-3” deep and 4-5” apart. A row of seeds should be planted 2-4 feet from the next to avoid overcrowding.

Rotationto extend your harvest, seeds such as lettuce, peas, beans, carrots and radishes can be planted every 2-3 weeks. this rotation will help to ensure you have enough of these vegetables throughout the entire summer, even into early fall.

SeedlingsFor most fruit and vegetable seeds, you’ll begin to see seedlings (small plants) within 2-3 weeks from the date of planting.

Notes:

Tomatoes: Something to keep in mind is that you’ll have to include an extra step when planting tomato plants as they will continue to grow all season. In order to keep them from laying on the ground where they are

vulnerable to rotting, they need some kind of support. A popular and proven option is to use wire “cages.” When working with the wire mesh, you will need to make them roughly 5 feet tall and about 12 – 30 inches in diameter. Make sure you fasten the cages on both sides with short stakes to prevent them from falling over. Or you can go the more traditional route and use basic stakes and twine.

Beans and Peas: When planting beans and peas

of any kind, use wooden stakes and twine to support the plants and save the vegetables from disease and rotting. use 6 foot tall, 1 – 2 inch wide stakes and set about 3 or 4 feet apart between the plants (down the center of the row of

plants). Once plants are about a foot or so tall you’ll string the twine down each row of plants and wrap it around each of the stakes. At the end of the row you’ll work the twine back in the opposite direction with the end result as having an area for the plants to weave through the twine as they grow. the wire cages and stakes and twine can be easily found at your local lawn and garden or hardware store.

Remember … to reap the greatest harvest, keep your garden weed-free and the soil moist.

Source: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.

org

| 15 Thursday, 30 October 2014 INSIDE OU

TINSIDE

OUTTo book, call Lorna on 064 200497

Thursday, 30 October 201416 | Worldwide

Community Comes TogetherbREASt CANCER AWARENESS MONtH - OCtObER 2014

Tanya Calitz

Each year the Namib Independent focuses on creating an awareness campaign in aid of breast cancer, and this year is no different. the paper asked women from all walks of life to show their support for the cause by sending in a creative photograph displaying their support. We have taken the photos and made a small collage.


Thought Provoking ImagesPolish artist Pawel kuczynski has worked in satirical illustration since 2004,

specialising in thought-provoking images that make his audience question their everyday lives. His subjects deal with everything from social media to politics to poverty, and all have a very distinct message if you look closely enough. We found the images thought provoking enough to share with our community.

Source: http://news.distractify.com/

Opening Your Mind to the Realities of Everyday Life

LIFESTYLELifestyle


WOrLDWIDePope Say Christians Should Believe inEvolution and Big Bang

Mother Wins Right to End Daughter's Life

Chinese Backpacker Offers Sex for Travel expenses

The “Big Bang” and evolution are not only consistent with biblical teachings, Pope Francis told a Vatican gathering – they are essential to understanding God.

“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything — but that is not so,” the pope told a plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

“He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfilment,” Pope Francis said. The earth’s origins were not chaotic, the pontiff said, but were created from a principle of love, reported Religion News Service.

“He gave autonomy to the beings of

the universe at the same time at which he assured them of his continuous presence, giving being to every reality, and so creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the creator who gives being to all things,” the pope said.

Pope Francis said the theory of evolution did NOt contradict the bible or church teachings, as creationists claim.

“God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life. “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve,” the pope said.

Catholic teaching has not traditionally been opposed to evolution, unlike evangelical Christianity in the u.S., although a close associate of Pope Benedict XVI criticized the scientific theory in a 2005 opinion piece published in the New York times. Pope Francis made the speech while unveiling a bust of benedict, his predecessor.

the pope said biblical teachings gave humans the responsibility to care for the earth and its inhabitants. In the book of Genesis, God commanded Adam “to name everything and to go ahead through history,” Pope Francis said.

“this makes him responsible for creation, so that he might steward it in order to develop it until the end of time.”

He warned that it was a “grave sin against God the creator” to destroy

the environment, and scientists held a special responsibility to protect Gods’ creation.

“therefore the scientist, and above all the Christian scientist, must adopt the approach of posing questions regarding the future of humanity and of the earth, and, of being free and responsible, helping to prepare it and preserve it, to eliminate risks to the environment of both a natural and

human nature,” Pope Francis said. “but, at the same time, the scientist

must be motivated by the confidence that nature hides, in her evolutionary mechanisms, potentialities for intelligence and freedom to discover and realise, to achieve the development that is in the plan of the creator.”

Source: http://www.rawstory.com/

A mother has made legal history after she won a High Court case to end the life of her severely disabled 12-year-old daughter.

Nancy Fitzmaurice was born blind and suffering from hydrocephalus, meningitis and septicaemia, which left her unable to talk, walk, eat or drink. Her quality of life was so poor she depended on round the clock hospital care and was fed, watered and medicated through a tube at London’s Great Ormand Street Hospital. but when a routine operation left her screaming in agony her devoted mother, Charlotte Fitzmaurice, who had given up work to look after her daughter, made the heart-breaking decision to end Nancy’s life.

In a landmark case Great Ormand Street fought on behalf of Charlotte, and dad David Wise, to give her the right to die. A statement given to a judge explaining why her daughter should no longer suffer Charlotte, 36, said her daughter longed for peace.

‘My daughter is no longer my daughter she is now merely just a shell. ‘the light from her eyes is now gone and is replaced with fear and a longing to be peace,’ she wrote

Justice Eleanor king at the High Court of Justice read Charlotte’s moving plea and instantly declared it was in

mother and daughter’s best interests to withdraw fluids she needed to survive.

Summing up she said: ‘The love, devotion and competence of her mother are apparent. In her own closed world she has had some quality of life. Sadly that is not the case now.’

Little Nancy died in hospital on August 21.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/

A Chinese teenaged backpacker has sparked outrage after she posted an ad online offering sex to men in different cities in exchange of funds for her travelling expenses.

Nineteen-year-old Je Peng, a student from Shanghai, posted the online ad on Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging website. In her advertisement, she said she was looking for "temporary boyfriends" who must be "good looking, under 30, taller than 1.75 meters and, of course, rich.

"they will fund my transport to their city and all my expenses while I am there and they need to be generous," the notorious Shanghai student said in her controversial post.

"In return, they get a whole night with me, my undivided attention, and a chance to show themselves off in the company of a truly beautiful girl," she said before adding:

"It is sort of like hitchhiking. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Peng says she has already travelled all over eastern China in the same

way and wants to see the rest of the country, but is now falling short of money to fund herself. Critics have lambasted the teenager saying that the deal was nothing more or less than pure prostitution and have called for the ad to be taken down.

"If she was taking cash we would all know what to call her. this is a disgusting way to carry on," a Weibo user said according to Daily Mail.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.in/


MOTOrINGMotoring

Pajero UpgradeKeep It Real in 2015

Mitsubishi's aging Pajero SUV has been face-lifted and upgraded - and its model range simplified - for 2015, while keeping the inevitable price increases within the bounds of sanity.

the Mitsubishi Pajero earned its off-road spurs with a record 12 wins - seven of them consecutive - at the infamous Dakar Rally, but that was a long time ago in marketing terms and, according to the maker, most of the detail work in this upgrade has been based on feedback from the toughest critics of all - customers.

Cosmetically, there is a new grille and bumper with chunkier styling, now incorporating switchable LED daytime running lights, with a steeply undercut lower edge so as not to compromise its approach angle.

Each of the three derivatives - down from four - now has its own special alloy rim design, and the two long-wheelbase derivatives sport a new spare-wheel cover that completely encloses the spare.

the only major change inside is that the standard rear-view camera now shows its image on the infotainment system screen, and automatic headlight dimming is now available across the range.

KEEPING IT SIMPLEthat range now comprises the short-wheelbase, three-door GLS, the long-wheelbase, five-door GLS and the range-topping long-wheelbase GLS Exceed - each with Mitsubishi's familiar 3.2-litre DI-D common-rail direct-injection turbodiesel four, rated for 140kW at 3800 revs and 441Nm at 2000rpm, mated to five speed auto transmission with manual override.

Given the Pajero's background, a proper four-wheel drive system is practically a given, including high and low range, and viscous-coupling centre and rear differential locks.

However, it avoids today's obsession with fly-by-wire pushbutton controls in favour of a dead-simple four-way shift lever. the 2H mode drives the rear wheels only, for economical, easy driving around town and on the open road, while 4H (which can be engaged at up to 100km/h on the fly) sends 34 percent of the drive to the front wheels and 66 percent to the rear wheels, intended to give it much the same driving feel as an all-wheel drive road car such as a Subaru or Audi quattro.

the 4HLc mode locks up the centre differential for 50:50 front-to-rear power delivery and changes the traction-control set-up, while 4LLc engages low-range and deactivates traction control for crawling over really nasty terrain.

Finally, as a last resort, a switch on the centre console locks the rear differential and if that would not get you there, perhaps you should be travelling in something with a big fan on top.

WHAT YOU GETStandard kit includes electric windows with tinted glass, leather upholstered heated seats with power adjustment, reclining rear seats (with an extra two in long-wheelbase models that fold flat into the cargo-bay floor) a sliding front arm rest with two storage levels, bluetooth, voice control and a touch-screen operated radio/CD/MP3 player with uSb and aux ports.

the Exceed ups the ante with a 12-speaker Rockford Fosgate sound system, xenon headlights with washers, 18” alloys, an electric sliding/tilting sunroof and a wood and leather-trimmed combination steering wheel.

WHAT YOU PAYthe short-wheelbase GLS retails for R569 900, and the long wheelbase GLS for R639 900 - each a R10 000 increase on its predecessor - while the new Esteem flagship will cost you R659 900.

Prices include a three-year or 100 000km warranty and a five-year or 100 000km maintenance plan; service intervals are 10 000km.

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/

Namib Independent Issue 123

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Transcript of Namib Independent Issue 123