Elderly people at the Immanuel Old Age Home in Okahandja are not happy with the quality of food they are being served.

An elder who resides there says that the food is tasteless and lacks colour. “We have eaten porridge this afternoon and we are going to eat porridge in the evening again,” the elder told Informanté on Wednesday.
She feels that they can be served better food and reports that a typical night’s meal normally consists of two dry brotchens with coffee or tea. “We hardly taste butter or anything on our bread. If butter is placed on then it is very little and only on one side of the bread,” the elder moaned.
According to her the people who stay there have lost their appetite, because of the ‘paupers’ menu. She is concerned that the people would get sick if they don’t eat a healthy balanced meal.
Another source claims that she once visited a friend who resides there and what she saw being served on that Sunday was shocking. She says “On the plate was only macaroni, one small piece of meat and one teaspoon of vegetables. The greens are too little for the old people who stay there. They need more vegetables, because it contains a lot of vitamins that are good for their bodies and health.”
Others complain about broken geysers. “The geysers are not working and now we have to wash in cold water. Some geysers have been broken for more than three years now. We pay them monthly, but they never fix them. Tell me if it is healthy for an old person to bath in cold water everyday?” a 66 year old pensioner complained. She has on several occasions reported the case to the matron, but she would apparently only make promises saying that she would look into the matter and no results would be delivered.
The matron, Sofie Naobes, responded by saying that the money the elders pay to the old age home is too little. “With the little money the food is not enough. We are really trying our best to give them the best meals,” she says. Naobes says that butter is only applied to one side of the bread, because the other side would normally be for jam. She however denies allegations of serving dry bread. “That is not true. We have never done that before. If there is no butter or jam then there is always something else like eggs,” she says.