Luqman Cloete
22 August 2008
More women than men have been "swept into the gambling current" since gambling was legalised in Namibia, says the Executive Director of Women's Action for Development (WAD), Veronica De Klerk.
De Klerk said gambling was consuming the money that could have put food on the table for poor families.
"Such unbecoming behaviour of mothers is criminal against their children and indeed a direct call for violence against women," she remarked.
While reiterating WAD's tough stance on violence against women, De Klerk nevertheless said that Namibian women often brought violence upon themselves by gambling away the money earned by their husbands.
"Do not squander away the little you have while running after the riches which will continuously evade you," she implored.
De Klerk made these remarks at a graduation ceremony at Keetmanshoop, where 143 young people were rewarded for completing WAD training courses in office administration, computer literacy, civic education, tailoring, nutrition and personal hygiene.
Speaking at the same event, the Karas Regional Council's Director of Administration, Michael Kahuika, appealed to the graduates not to stop empowering themselves.
He thanked WAD for offering training programmes aimed at reducing poverty, especially among women.
"With efforts like this to empower women, we actually empower the nation," Kahuika said.
He urged local businessmen to complement WAD's efforts in tackling poverty by offering these graduates jobs.
"Even if this would mean to employ them as temporary workers, casuals and volunteers.
Such efforts will give them much-needed practical experience, which can be of great value for future employment opportunities," he added.
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