A renovation for Josef's bedroom

Introduction:

Hello everyone, thank you for visiting the page. As some of you may know. I am currently about halfway through a 3 month stay with my girlfriend Sirkka in Rundu, Namibia. Her elder brother Josef, is 40 years old and is currently living at village called Siurungu, near Nkurenkuru (appx 140km away) with elderly family members.

Josef's struggles:

Josef has for many years struggled with his health - both mental and physical. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder for many years, and despite consistently taking medication for his condition, as many of you who know someone affected by this illness will know, it has had and continues to have a severe impact on his day to day life. It's not my place to go into great personal detail but I'm sure many of you will be aware of the tangible and ever-present effects that come along with living with Bipolar.

Post diagnosis, he has also been dealing with kidney failure - which presents its own complex series of challenges when it comes to daily life. He is on dialysis and as you can imagine it makes things even more restrictive for him - both practically and logistically.

Sadly as a result of both of these conditions he is not able to work and likely never will be. To compound these factors, unemployment in Namibia is at around 30%, one of if not the highest rates in the world currently. He lives in a remote area with no access to a car, and for the few jobs that may be available within reason (often jobs requiring physical or manual labour), he is not fit to work. The current situation in the country also limits the financial means of family members to give greater support than they already are in terms of daily care, providing accomodation along with food, medical provisions and other essentials. He has inconsistently been in receipt of a small amount of an equivelant to a 'disability allowance', but simlarly to the uk this often requires rigorous testing and there have been spells, including currently, where he has not recieved anything due to having to re-qualify for any form of support.

Reasons for the appeal and practical aspects:

The purpose of this appeal is to raise funds so that we can renovate his bedroom from its current state of relative disrepair to something more homely. It may not sound like much but for a man who is effectively housebound and spends a lot of time in his own room, we feel that this could really have a positive impact on his wellbeing by improving his immediate environment.

The reason we want to renovate Josef's bedroom is so that, despite his medical issues, he can have such basic human needs met - needs that anyone can take for granted - a small but cosy space to call his own. It is currently in quite a bad state of disrepair - structurally and functionally. We are not looking to make any radical or lavish changes. Our idea is to replace the broken door to give a greater sense of privacy and independence, tile the floor to make it a clean and low-maintanence surface, fix the broken window and put a mosquito net over it to reduce the risk of further illness and reduce sleep disruption, replace the broken bed to give him a comfortable place to rest and sleep, fix the roof to protect him from the elements and put a wardrobe in to give him a tidy space to store his clothes.

The work will be carried out chiefly by Sirkka and Josef's cousin Henoch who freelances as a builder (who will take no fee for any of the design or labour), supported by myself and Sirkka however we can, to keep costs as low as possible. Following a successful fundraising campaign and the completion of the work we will post a follow up with the newly renovated room so that everyone can see the outcome of their much-appreciated contributions.

The cost:

We have estimated in total that the cost will be around £1000 (20,000 Namibian Dollars). Here is a list of all the components required for the renovation:

Window frame

Glass

Door

Door handle appx

Door varnish

Tiles 60 sq m

Wardrobe / chest of drawers

Cutting for wardrobe

Adhesive

Grout

Futon bed

Zinc for the roof

Nails

Timber

Mosquito net

Transport costs

Conlusion/ Thanks:

We know times are hard for everyone right now and we are not making this appeal for you to feel sorry for Josef. We as a family this side have very limited means at the moment too. We are not asking for a huge amount from any one individual, we just wish if everyone who sees this could donate something that wouldn't change their own circumstances and share this page with everyone you know and kindly request they do the same! A small act of generosity may not seem like a big thing in and of itself. But when everyone can come together within their own means, it genuinely can make a huge difference, and no doubt it will give Josef some comfort not only in a practical sense but knowing that there are strangers out there who, despite having never met him still care about his wellbeing. Thank you so much for reading and for the altruism of those who decide to support.