Legal assistance in the Kavango region is a scarcity, especially for poor people in rural areas. From time to time a visiting attorney comes to Rundu, but this is very irregular. This results in the necessity for community members to travel all the way to Rundu, Katima Mulilo or further for assistance and finalization of aspects related to estates of deceased relatives and pension, maintenance and other related claims. This causes major expenses on traveling and accommodation, resulting in further poverty. In many cases, finances for traveling are not available and estates are very small, and are then exhausted by payment of these expenses.
Family members and caretakers of orphaned children are often unaware of legislation, procedures to follow as well as their rights in aspects concerning inheritance, pension, maintenance and other related claims.
This project therefore assists orphans and relatives with problems regarding estates of deceased persons, Will writing, pension enquiries, claims for maintenance for minor children from the Guardians Fund of the Master of the High Court, and other related aspects as well as to raise awareness and train local volunteers on different legal subjects.
As the area where the Philadelphia Foundation is working is very remote, people are not always aware of useful information on orphans, government grants, procedures, HIV/AIDS, childcare, health and nutrition, as well as the work of other local organizations. The second part of this project is a tool to empower local communities by making important information available to them through talks, info days, leaflets and volunteer information dissemination.
