While many Namibians celebrate Family Day with loved ones, squatters in Windhoek treat the day like any other, hustling to survive.

The NBC News team visited the White House, an abandoned building near Wernhil Shopping Mall, where about 20 people, including children and women, live under harsh conditions.

Elizabeth Hoxobes, a White House resident who has family elsewhere, grew emotional discussing Family Day: "Thank you, my mother, for being there and taking care of the family at home. But I'm sorry to tell you, Mother, I will not go home. I don't have anything. I'm not going home."

Mentos Afrikaaner, a 19-year-old orphan who now calls the White House home, has formed close bonds with other homeless residents, considering them family: "For the Family Day that we have been here, some of us are not with the mother and the parents. No mother, no father like me, but today I can also stand like this. I thank my Lord."

Passy |Goagoseb, who misses his son back home in Gobabis, whom he says is being well cared for by relatives, explained why he left: "Life is better here. Every day you will get ten dollars or five dollars from the people to survive. In Gobabis, there would be times we would not eat for up to three days. That is the reason why I moved here."

Carlo Morkel, who is a former inmate, says his reintegration back into society did not work well following his release from prison in 2019, and the only place he could go was the White House.

"If there are people out there who can reach out for us, there are people here who are talented, and there are people who can do things with their hands. So if there are people who can reach out to us to assist us or give us any sponsors, we can try to make a better life for ourselves."