Palmwag Lodge & Camp is currently undergoing a rigorous facelift. Upon completion of the renovation works in the middle of August 2020 the staff village will also be revamped - and the Palmwag team enthusiastically lend their hands. In February, they started producing their own bricks, which they will contribute to the construction process of the new personnel housing.
To this end, 20 staff members of Palmwag Lodge & Camp attended a half-day training in the art of brickmaking in December 2019, which was offered and partly sponsored by Ohorongo Cement in support of community development. Upon completion of the training each participant received a certificate of attendance and a guidebook to take home for future reference.
“We wanted to upskill the members of our Palmwag team,” says Konni Friedrich, Gondwana’s Kunene Collection Manager, “and we also want to allow for a sense of ownership and pride in the new personnel housing.” And the Assistant Manager of Palmwag Lodge and Camp, Sebastian Gantz, adds: “Our team has sacrificed their free time to generate a total of 2000 hand moulded bricks.”
Although brickmaking involves quite a bit of physical labour, the participating staff members enjoyed the team spirit and put their newly acquired skills to good use, namely mixing cement with the key elements of water and sand to generate durable bricks, which are safe to use.
Rosa Ndaluka: “I stay outside in the local rural settlement, but partaking in this team effort with my colleagues makes me very proud and I love to help and learn.”
Hendrick Jameson: “Making the bricks for our staff village brings me lots of joy and it is great teamwork. I make sure the cement mix stays correct.”
Berlinda Karutjaiva, “I feel strong and good about myself helping to build my own staff village and I am very proud of my team, I will now also be able to build my own house one day.”
Katarina Oe Amses : “I also stay at the local rural settlement, but it is so great for me to see the diverse hand-in-hand teamwork of all my colleagues together to make bricks for their staff village, I am very proud of everyone.”
Aqua Mombura: “I am happy to have learnt how to make bricks and will soon make them for my own home.”
In 2017, Ohorongo Cement partnered with Buildit to offer a Brickmaking Training Academy on how to produce quality bricks in support of Government initiatives to fight poverty. Over a period of two years all 14 regions in Namibia have been covered producing more than 300 trained brickmakers. Since then, the project has been taken a step further. Brickmaking training is now offered in partnership with Ohorongo’s valued clients to add value and provide support to their customers.
Inke Stoldt