Reweaving The Lived Life After Fire: Indigenous Community Constructions of Disaster Resilience in Erongo Region of Namibia

Abstract

In Namibia's informal settlements, fire disasters have become increasingly common, exacerbated by structural vulnerabilities, poverty, and limited institutional support, which heighten community susceptibility. The aim of this paper is to explore the Lived life after fire by focusing on indigenous community constructions of resilience within informal settlements in Erongo Region, Namibia following recurrent fire incidents in the Twaloloka, Otweya, and DRC settlements. A hermeneutic existential phenomenological design informed this study. The units of investigation where affected community members who were sampled using purposive criterion i sampling and maximum variation sampling techniques. Eight focus group discussions of 10 heterogeneous members and 25 residents were engaged in phenomenological interviews. These represented diverse socio-economic and demographic backgrounds within the selected communities. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed using ATLAS.ti version 25. The findings show resilience as a relational and ethical practice among Erongo residents and takes a form of creativity, moral responsibility, spiritual faith as well as improvisation among the grassroots. Resilience is perceived as a process of life’s reconstruction through memory and solidarity as well as group learning, which enhances their coping mechanism and transformation. The conclusion is that the qualitative differences in the lived experiences of men and women in the informal settlements might be explained by differences in life threat, contact with fire, loss, death, and various degrees of resilience. The exhibited forms of resilience in Namibia's informal settlements are not imposed by policy; they are lived, embodied, and continuously reconstructed within the relational fabric of everyday life. The paper is significant as it is likely to situate the development social work disaster practices and policies that acknowledge the significance of psychosocial recovery, gendered leadership as well as indigenous knowledge in fostering community fire disaster resilience.