Explorer Kate Leeming sets out to make the first bicycle journey down Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, where the Namib Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. Kate’s thousand-mile journey sees her enduring some of the most inhospitable conditions on the planet, in one of Africa’s most remote and spectacular locations. She ends her journey in Oranjemund, where her story lingers for a while on this unique town and what it offers. The series is now showing on Outside TV, its market is mainly USA and Australia. Sponsored by OMDis.

Watch Episode 1 Here 

Oranjemund – Namibia’s best-kept secret: https://youtu.be/reMm0Aos290

Situated on the northern edge of Oranjemund, Frutee Community Garden Project, is an exemplary community project that plays an important role in food security and self-sufficiency. Established 5 years ago, by community volunteers, the Project is a place where irrespective of your age, gender or background, efforts from your own hands are rewarded by being able to witness the miracle of generating food from the soil.

The project’s objectives are to create an environment wherein knowledge related to food garden preparation, crop cultivation, and self -sustainable food production is shared and transferred, and at the same time, it empowers households experiencing food shortages to provide for themselves.

Throughout the week, but especially on Saturday mornings, the site is always abuzz with people excitingly working in their gardens. It is evident that Frutree Community Garden Project, is key in bringing people together and engage in positive initiatives which build a sense of community and belonging. The project truly gives people an opportunity to learn and share knowledge on gardening, and appreciate nature.

Nutritious vegetables including spinach, cabbage, onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, beetroot, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, pumpkin and maize, are commonly grown onsite. Bananas and the lesser known pepino fruit also do well in this garden. No chemical pesticides or artificial fertilizers are used in the garden. The focus is rather on traditional crop growing principles making use of self-made compost and companion planting to protect crops. The produce is sold at the community night markets, but mostly it is for personal food security.

The long-term goal of the project is to continue to empower the local community to feed themselves purely by the effort they put into their gardens.*

The role that Futree plays in the community is pivotal for the transformation of the town Futree is subsidized through water and electricity provision by OMDis as part of grassroots agriculture development and community empowerment.

*article excerpt from Diamonds Do Good publication

Background

OMDis Town Transform Agency “OMDis” was established in August of 2019 as an S21 Company by NAMDEB Diamond Corporation with the sole purpose of proactively accelerating the diversification of the Oranjemund economy, alongside the efforts of other town stakeholders. The goal of the agency is to transform the Town’s economic future beyond mining.

To ensure town sustainability, OMDis need to implement projects that will stimulate the local economy.  The project is called Town Transformation, and includes such stakeholders such as Oranjemund Town Council, OMDis and OMD 2030. A transformed town provides livelihoods for residents, a sense of belonging, and a future for the community. Oranjemund has had one economic driver for the last 84 years: diamond mining. Therefore, OMDis wants to stimulate the economy through an array of projects in Tourism, Healthcare, Agriculture, SME Development, Education, Renewable Energy, and Property Development.

Basecamp the StartUp Incubation and Innovation Centre of StartUp Namibia, alongside OMDis Town Transform Agency hosted a Makerthon in Oranjemund from 9 – 11 November 2020. The aim was to give entrepreneurs, innovators and makers of furniture a platform to conceptualize, create, and showcase their products. Out of 7 applicants, the winner Leroy Fisch walked away with the title of Champion of the region and was awarded a procurement contract from StartUp Namibia, which is a Namibian-German technical corporation project funded by the German Government. The procurement contract is set up for Leroy Fisch to provide office equipment to be used in the new Basecamp Headquarters in Windhoek that is due for construction in 2021. Leroy Fisch along with all the other 6 participants, Sidney van Wyk, Martha Markus, Teophelus Katjito, Hartmuth Beukes, Thomas Kandukira, and Shane Jordan was each awarded a grant worth N$ 15,000.00 to assist them in developing their businesses.

Namibia was hit hard in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic, as was the rest of the world. One of the industries that came under severe pressure was Tourism, one of the mainstay’s of Namibia’s economy. It was no surprise then that, despite restrictions and a financial hole in most businesses’ pockets, it was decided to proceed with the Namibia Tourism Expo.

Oranjemund’s Town Transformation Team, consisting of representatives from OMDis, OTC and OMD 2030, set up a stall for Oranjemund, advertising the town as a tourism and investment destination. The aim was to represent and market Oranjemund to Namibians in particular. Our tagline was “take me to Oranjemund my soul needs to breathe”, and in current times this is especially true.

We stood alongside stalls like the Gondwana Collection, Namibia Hospitality and Cape Wine Route. In addition to tourism related stalls there were also a number of stalls representing support businesses, such as Complete Lifestyle Warehouse and Vivo Energy, as well as organisations like the Development Bank of Namibia. Thousands of visitors circulated through the Expo and we had many interested visitors, many of them asking whether Oranjemund is open. Yes, we are! We hope to them all next time in Oranjemund. The other most popular question was “can we buy property in Oranjemund”, and again, yes, we are open for business.

The message remains: If you’d like to get away from 2020’s troubles, visit Oranjemund so that your soul can breathe!

Oranjemund has been a mystery for many years, everyone knows about it but very few have seen it. This was mainly due to the town be a restricted area, an accessory works built in 1936 to service the diamond mining industry. As such, only people working for the mine could live there, and visits from friends and family were strictly controlled. Today, after 84 years, Oranjemund is a much-changed town. No longer is it run by a mine, no longer is it closed and taboo, no longer is it inaccessible. During the last 10 years the town was proclaimed, a local authority was established, and a journey called Town Transformation was started. This process entails weaning the town’s dependency off of diamond mining and creating a sustainable future beyond mining. But the world does not know this, and it is our job to make it know that Oranjemund is open as a destination, as a place of economic growth, as a place to belong. The ChangeMaker media campaign is aimed at telling the story of Oranjemund, of diamond mining, of its people, and of its future. We have searched high and low for ex-Oranjemunders who went into the world and became leaders in their respective fields, and we asked them how Oranjemund shaped their lives. We selected those community leaders in Oranjemund who are driving the process of change, and we asked them what their hopes for a Oranjemund’s future are. And we talked to those working hard to create a future for the town how this change is being created.

Fruitful discussion was held at Sonop Farms regarding their operations along the north bank road at Noordoewer. Topics covered included Sonop’s operations and business model, legalities around agriculture on state owned land, and the possibility for a MoU to facilitate exchange of technical information. Albert van der Merwe provided immediate pointers for the OMDis team in terms of our proposed expansions, and possible partnerships in the future.

The site visit in the pack warehouse showed how technology is used to effectively wash, sort and package tomatoes by the tons. Despite this, jobs needed did not diminish. Seeing what has been achieved and how, OMDis is confident that a similar model can be deployed at Oranjemund, especially considering the arable land, road infrastructure and assets that exist.

There is much to be learned from our neighbours and others involved in the industry. The willingness to collaborate and share information was much appreciated by OMDis. Together we can strengthen the region’s food security and economic development.