Oshandi is a village situated in the northern

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

in the

Ondobe Constituency Ondobe is a constituency in the Ohangwena Region of Namibia. It had 16,286 registered voters . Ondobe Constituency covers an area of . It contains the village of Okanghudi, the birthplace of Hifikepunye Pohamba, the second President of Namibia. ...

Ohangwena Region Ohangwena is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Eenhana. Major settlements in the region are the towns Eenhana and Helao Nafidi as well as the self-governed village of Okongo and the proclaimed settlements Ongha, Ongenga and O ...

. It has a clinic and Anglican church that were established in 1947 by Canadian citizen Mark Dirnardo, who was a carpenter who came up with the idea of creating the hospital and church. The first headman of Oshandi village was Haufuku Kanyanye, who was Oshivambo speaking and the current headman is Paulus Hashoongo who is the native of Oshandi village. Oshandi village is situated on the very edge of

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan and later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Ovambos, in South West Africa (present-day Namibia). The apartheid government stat ...

. In 1967, Oshandi hospital was destroyed by the

Namibian War of Independence The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...

because at that time it was the only hospital that had medicine. The South African fighters destroyed the hospital because they wanted to take in the medication. After Namibian independence, Oshandi clinic was rebuilt while the hospital was transferred to

Eenhana Eenhana (, IPA: ) is the capital town of the Ohangwena Region, northern Namibia, on the border with Angola. It also used to be a mission station of the Finnish Missionary Society. It had a population of 16,588 people in 2023. Eenhana is situ ...

. Today, Oshandi is one of the developing villages with health facility such as clinic and clean water. Since this clinic is close to the Angola border, most of the Angolan patients are also treated in Oshandi clinic. The first thing unique about this village is that it is naturally divided into two parts, the naturally untouched forest where herder mostly take their livestock for grazing and there are also some different types of wild animals such as lion, hyena and springbok. On the other side of the village is the town area where there are the clinic, church, electricity, open market or shopping area and the councilor's office. It is 30 km from

, approximately 45 km, driving west of

Oshikango Oshikango is a former village in northern Namibia and since 2004 part of the town of Helao Nafidi, although it still maintained its own village council for a number of years. ''Oshikango'' is still the name of the border post with Angola and the ...

and about 25 km from the Angolan-Namibia border. The village falls under the Uukwanyama Traditional Authority in Etomba. Constituency councillor is Hilaria Ndjuluwa (

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

) since 2020. The village has approximately 3,500 inhabitants. Oshandi Combined School and Okaati () Combined School. Oshandi village is surrounded by other villages such as Omungholyo,

Okanghudi Okanghudi is a small settlement in the Ohangwena Region in Namibia, which is noted for being the birthplace of Namibian former president Hifikepunye Pohamba Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba (born 18 August 1935) is a Namibian politician who served a ...

, Onhamunama, Etomba and Ohainengena.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in the Ohangwena Region