Oranjemund

I had the opportunity to go with some of my colleagues in early June to the far southwest corner of Namibia on the border of South Africa at the Orange River to work on a consultancy about substance use in this town. Oranjemund is a very unique town! It is a closed company town that is essentially run by a diamond mining company. I needed a special permit and police clearance just to enter the town, and you get a badge when you arrive that you must keep with you at all times. When flying into Oranjemund, which entails flying on a small plane with layovers in the coastal towns of Walvish Bay and Luderitz, you fly over a closed area called the Sperrgebiedt (which means forbidden zone). About 200 or so miles of the southern coast is closed off to all people, and you can see various “ghost towns” in the middle of the desert – middle of nowhere. This area has been one of the richest diamond fields in the world. It used to be that you could find diamonds laying in the sand, but now they are doing heavy excavation and apparently getting less returns for their work. Diamonds are still a huge part of Namibia’s GDP.

The town itself was very interesting. Because all the people in town are there because of the diamonds, this is one of the wealthiest towns in the whole country, maybe even in Africa. The town was a little oasis in the desert, with grass lawns, wooden fences and palm trees – it looks a little bit like Central California. The town is still owned by the company, and while there now are some private businesses, the company still owns all of the houses (workers are assigned a house or hostel room/dorm room based on their job classification), provides free water and electricity, and provides free health and social services (it runs a hospital, a private school for the kids, etc.). The town is still very, very safe – kids walking around at night, no burglar bars, people leave their keys in the car, no one locks their doors, etc. It has the lowest crime rate in Namibia, because the criminals can't get out of town! The town has about a dozen sports clubs, most of them that aren't appealing to the majority of Namibians (squash club, lawn bowling club, etc.). Many of the workers are bussed down here from the far north, returning only several times a year to visit their family. One of the neatest parts of the town is that because it is green oasis in the middle of the desert, there are wildlife in the town. Gemsbok, my favorite antelope, wander around the streets of town! it was so surprising to see them grazing on the schoolyard and walking in front of the Spar grocery store. The company is planning on helping to “proclaim” a municipality there sometime soon, which will change the nature of the town drastically – making it an open town. I’m happy I got to see it beforehand! We had a busy, exhausting week, interviewing about 75 people – from miners in the mines to top management to school learners. We're busy working on the report, and will return in August to deliver it.

The research team by the town entrance