An artist in the heart of Tsumeb's Nomtsoub settlement in the Oshikoto Region has digitalized his hand-graphic comic artworks to raise awareness about gender-based violence and abuse of social grants.
It is the wish of Mcartney Khoeseb to spread his message widely, but he is limited by funding.
The 54-year-old Khoeseb, who too is a beneficiary of disability grants, published a 23-page booklet on social grant abuse, a situation that he said defeats government efforts to improve the living standards of the affected population.
"Most of the people are getting paid, the vulnerable children's money, and they abuse it for their own benefits, paying their bills, and the child has to suffer. School uniforms and everything, the person is going to pay the bills at the shebeens, the furniture shops, and so on. That's what I have observed and studied in a survey of mine, which taught me to advocate in that regard, and I decided to start with it and those books to be published and to be put in libraries, hospitals, and so on. so they can know that if you abuse a child, you can be imprisoned."
Explaining his comic strips, Khoeseb explained that the booklet was inspired by his not-so-privileged background.
The publication of the booklets was, however, a challenge without sponsorship.
"I am gifted in my arts, it's a Godly gift. I am a self-creator; even all my characters are my own creations. By talking, as my tears are running, I am not happy as I am left behind, because I am forgotten, but I want to establish myself and go ahead to educate the future generation through my arts. I don't want to fail, and later on, people will say he was a good artist. I bring my part, and I still want to continue, but I don't get sponsors. Even with the new booklet I have developed, I was looking for sponsors, but people don't, but they just say it's good work."
Khoeseb has over 26 years of experience as a cartoonist in both the social and political spheres.
His intention is to have the material translated into all indigenous languages.