Family grateful for surviving after eating donkey meat

SOME villagers in Otamanzi constituency, Oshana region, have always eaten meat of donkeys that would have died of natural causes but on Thursday last week something went wrong at Onkani village, about 83 kilometres from Oshakati.

Malakia Theofelus (83) and Jesaya Nakathingo (5) died after eating suspected poisoned donkey meat.

Nine others from the same family fell sick and were rushed to a nearby clinic and then to Oshikuku Roman Catholic Hospital. They survived.

The donkey whose meat they ate was found dead near the cuca shops. Nobody knows whose donkey it was.

Theofelus ‘ body was found in a mahangu field, while Nakathingo ‘s body was picked up along the road from school where it lay the whole night after he failed to walk back home.

Those who survived are Saima Kaluwapa (age unknown), her grandchildren Anna Sebastianus (2), Martha Sebastianus (10) and Petrus Sebastianus (6), Onemwati Herman (3), Naango Iyambo (8), Frans Herman Iyambo (7) and Levi Iyambo (17).

Kaluwapa, who cooked the suspected poisoned donkey meat, told The Namibian at her homestead on Wednesday that God had saved the other nine from death.

Her neighbours and friends were comforting her.

She said the donkey was found lying dead near the Ofoona shebeen, and some villagers took the meat and sold it to their neighbours.

One of her sons, Herman Iyambo, bought the meat and gave it to her to cook for dinner. Iyambo himself was not at home at the time when others had supper.

Kaluwapa said the family started experiencing stomach cramps, accompanied by vomiting, just after supper. They then went to the nearby clinic, where they were treated and discharged.

Although some of the children went to school on Thursday morning, they were still not well. Theofelus was not in his hut. When the family searched for him, they found his body in a mahangu field.

Kaluwapa said they called the police, and some health workers from the clinic investigated when they heard that the family fell sick after eating donkey meat. They thus recommended that those family members who were still sick should go to the Oshikuku Roman Catholic Hospital.

The family also realised that Nakathingo had not returned from school, and another search was conducted. They found him dead in the bush between the kindergarten and their homestead.

“I thank God for sparing some of us who ate the same donkey meat that killed my brother and my great-grandson,” she said while comforting one of her granddaughters, Maria Neshiko, Nakathingo ‘s mother.

Neshiko, who had tears welling up in her eyes, failed to talk about her son ‘s death.

Kaluwapa said Theofelus had come to stay with her after his wife ‘s death and her husband ‘s death in 2005.

About Nakathingo, Kaluwapa said: “I also lost my great-grandson, whom I loved so much. He was a good and well-behaved boy, just like the rest.”

One of Kaluwapa ‘s daughters, Rosa Iyambo, whose three children survived, also thanked God for sparing them.

“I could have lost three children at once, but the Almighty God spared them. We are mourning the death of our cousin and uncle. But on the other hand, we are thanking our Almighty, who always has mercy upon us,” she noted.

One of the villagers, Simon Ekandjo, said villagers eat donkey meat, especially during this time when meat from cattle, goats and sheep is scarce.

“We have eaten donkey meat all the time, even meat of donkeys which die of natural causes like this one. But we never experienced illness and death like in this case.

We are asking ourselves why those who ate the meat fell sick and some died. This case must be thoroughly investigated. We are calling on the government to vaccinate all donkeys in the area,” he stressed.

Omusati police liaison officer, sergeant Anna Kunga, said investigations into this matter were ongoing.

Some regional councillors have urged villagers not to eat meat from animals which die of unknown causes.

Theophilus and Nakathingo will be buried at the Onkani village tomorrow.