While in Windhoek, we had the opportunity to watch a team of workers build a garage in a matter of a few weeks. It was an eye opening to what some people are willing to do to survive.
This construction crew works from 7am in the morning to 4pm in the afternoon. At 10am and again at 1pm, they are allowed a small coffee break, but there is no coffee, just water and a few slices of plain white bread. They are doing hard labour, heavy work, carrying two cement bags at the time; that's 100kg of weight on their shoulders! They are moving bricks all day, stirring cement and literally running around with wheelbarrows. There are no power tools; they break the existing concrete foundation with hammers. They are as thin as one can be; they have no body fat yet they look like they have no muscle either, just bones. How can they survive on white bread and such heavy physical work?
There is no real contract between the workers and their employer. If they show up at the arranged meeting point in the morning, the boss picks them up, if they are not there, too bad for them. At the end of the day, if the boss is happy with their work, he will say something like "see you tomorrow" otherwise, the guy lost his job and the next day, he will wait on the side of the road for someone else to pick him up. Another job, another place but the same minuscule pay at the end of the day.
In the best circumstances, they are being paid N$4/hr (~0.75cdn/hr). This can buy you a loaf of bread or a cheap beer. How people are supposed to make a living for themselves with such a small remuneration for their work? How can poverty be abolished if those who work are not being compensated accordingly?
For some, like the president of Namibia, even N$4/hr is too much too pay. He is currently building a new mansion and has employed truck loads of Chinese immigrant workers. Their compensation? We heard it was a measly N$1 per day!
I would be tempted to call this slavery - hard work for peanuts - but this is the way the nation runs. Because of the high unemployment rate (40%), the country has an abundant source of cheap labour and people will rather employ ten men than use a machine to do the same work. The disparity between rich and poor is immense. As an example, 1% of the top households spend as much as 50% of the rest of the population!