By: Finna Kahili & Maggie Forcelledo-Paz

The sight of young people living on the Windhoek streets is a pressing social issue.

Young women from  Mariental and Gobabis claim their families disowned them after falling pregnant and dropping out of school.

The young women struggle with food, shelter, and water while facing risks of violence, substance abuse, and exploitation.

 Twenty-year-old, Juliana Isaacks, uses cardboard boxes as shelter, and says this isn’t what she wants for herself or her child.

“I came from Mariental to Windhoek, my mum is staying in Goreangab, but my mum when I have something she knows me, when I don’t, she doesn’t know me. She’s a drinker, and she insults me, saying things like I am already dead to her,” shared Isaacks.

Micheline Matiki from Gobabis says her family verbally abused and kicked her out when she fell pregnant while in grade nine.

“It’s because of the struggle that I came here, to come to struggle. We also struggle in Gobabis, but it’s not enough and that is why I came here to struggle,” Matiki said.

Legal Assistance Centre gender researcher Yolande Engelbrecht says the Education Act gives the responsibility to provide support services and safe accommodation for learner mothers.

“A couple of years ago, the Ministry of Education also introduced the management of learner pregnancy policy. The main focus of this policy was to prevent and manage incidents of learner pregnancies, and also to stop any child from missing out on education,” said Engelbrecht.

Engelbrecht suggested that building facilities for homeless youth could help address the issue of youth homelessness.

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