To close...

Thought I would post some pictures of our After School children, taken by Di Marshall. The After School Program is promoting a future and a hope for these precious ones, so that they can have all the opportunities they should have!

This will be my last post for the year - a very blessed Christmas to all!

Home Based CARE

Edler visiting one of her clients

Christmas can be a difficult time for the clients in our Home Based Care program. They may travel to the villages/rural areas to spend time with their extended families, which may mean they don’t have their normal support system. Or they might stay in Windhoek but members of their household travel, so then they need additional help.

Jogbeth doing a bible study with the children

The EBCAIDS caregivers are busy finding out where all the clients will be over the holiday period, so we can properly plan for the care they will need. Please pray for this.

Jogbeth counselling her client and family

There are now 16 clients being visited by four caregivers – Jogbeth, Aline, Edler and Olga. This is a 100% increase over the number of clients we had when we started just over a year ago. These include some male clients, so we are praying that there are some men who will be willing to join as caregivers, so that the needs of the men in the program can be better met.

Closed.

After School Program is closed for another year – our sixth, in fact! This year we saw an average of 144 children register each term and an average daily attendance of 68. But the highest daily attendance was…99 children. WOW.

We were pleased to welcome Di Marshall, SIM’s HIV-AIDS Consultant, to the mayhem of the final day of ASP on 19 November. She’s in town to look at our programs and talk about the assistance SIM is able to give us. (And the credit for the photos goes to her!)

The afternoon started with some study/learning time, as some of the children still had their final exams the following day.

Mercia with the Grade 1s and 2s

Lazarus with the Grade 5s

Then it was time for some singing,

and games,

Ready for 'Lions & Leopards'

Tangee showing the children how to splatter their partner (ie, ME) with the water balloons

The children took the 'Water Balloon Toss' a bit more seriously!

before we finished with prayer and giving the children each a “goodie” bag with some treats to eat.

My favourite part? Tipping the rest of the water all over the children!

We look forward to seeing them back after the summer holidays!

Botswana

Back from our networking trip to Flying Mission Botswana, and what a great time we had! It’s a fairly straightforward drive from Windhoek to Gabarone, taking us about 14 hours to get there and 12 to return…but I don’t know that I’d ever recommend anyone to do it in one go unless they’re pressed for time. The term, “vast distance” has a completely new meaning for me now!

Sunrise close to the Namibia/Botswana border

We left on 28 October and returned on 1 November (okay, the small hours of the 2nd of November actually!). The group consisted of Pastor and Mrs Makai, Florence and I from the EBCAIDS Committee, and Tangee and Absalom representing the After School Program.

Tangee and Absalom look at a garden used to support the youth group at a township church

The aim was to look at the projects that Flying Mission is involved in and supports in Gabarone and surrounding towns, with a focus on youth and children’s work. Flying Mission is also heavily involved in home based care, and we hope for another occasion to have a look at those projects.

Behaviour change group at a primary school

And wow did we see a lot! Behaviour change programs in schools, the HIV-AIDS arm of the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana, life skills programs (Face the Nation) run by the Open Baptist Church, sports programs (Kings Foundation), a feeding program, youth groups in churches, an after school program, Youth for Christ… Also looked at some good resources and curriculums being used.

As well as getting a meal, the children who come to the feeding program can relax and play games

Tangee with a volunteer and two of the children from a school feeding program

The hospitality and people were fantastic – especially Saralee, Pastor Emmanuel and Mercy. Thanks guys (especially Saralee for not thinking me a nerd for wanting to spot some locations from “Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency” books!!). Even through accommodation mix-ups and car break downs, we really enjoyed our time, learnt a lot and made new friends. We’ve got a lot of ideas to work on now and see what we can incorporate into our programs.

Relaxing - yes we also got a chance for that! - with our new Flying Mission friends

Please pray for Flying Mission and all the churches and organizations putting so much time and effort into preventing, treating and educating about HIV and AIDS.

Sunset at the Mokolodi Nature Reserve

Parents evening

Our final parents’ evening for the After School Program in 2009 went really well on 21 October, with about 40 parents/guardians and 90 children attending!

The children attended in their school uniforms, to add a more scholarly touch to the proceedings. The volunteers and children had put a lot of work into preparing for the evening: the Grade 1 & 2 and Grade 3 & 4 groups showed what they had learned through their extra/remedial work as well as memory verses from Bible Club, the Grade 5s performed a drama, and the Life Skills group (for Grade 6 and up) presented topics they had covered.

The Life Skills group (left) and Grade 4s and 5s (right)

In addition to this Lazarus had practiced songs with the children and the “choir” gave some lively performances. Displays for the different activities had also been set up, showing what was done in Bible Club, Life Skills, sports and arts and crafts (with the children’s handiwork on display).

The evening’s highlight was the awarding of certificates to the children for attendance, good behaviour and good marks/significant improvement in their subjects at school. This is the first time we’ve done this and it was great to have the children’s achievements recognized and see their pride in their accomplishments. As always, we closed with prayer, tea and refreshments!

Less than a month to go now until we finish for the year on 19 November.

Notes from the After School children to Tangee, the Coordinator

To: Sir Tangee

I am really thanking you for everything you have done for me. At first I was a sinner, I didn’t know that there is heaven and hell. Thank you for letting me know about them and you have made a big change in my life. From now on I can preach to others the way you teach me to do and I will invite a lot of them to the Book of Life.

Sir, you really changed my life and I will thank you for ever and ever. I will also thank God who whispered in my ears and told me to go to you and you did really show me the true way.

You are here because God sent you to come and preach His words. I will also do the same, you did set a good example.

From: Janongovandu (Grade 9)


Dear Sir Tangee

First of all I would like to say how are you. I am fine, very happy and somehow sad because we are going [on holidays, at the end of Term 2].

You taught us in Bible Club about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and more. I hope you will continue to teach us.

We all love you very much, thanks for helping us with our homework. We have improved in our reading skills and more, our parents are very glad. Thank you for teaching us about the Lord. I also thank you for the projects we did in arts and crafts.

Lots of love, Romaine (Grade 5)


Dear Sir Tangeni

Thank you for Bible Club to teach us about love, joy, peace, patience and kindness. I hope God blesses you. We all love you. Again thank you, I have improved in my reading skills.

Bye bye. Lots of love from Kalitu (Grade 5)

Bella is back

We’re happy to have Bella back with us at the After School Program. She has recovered from the health problems she was having, and is once again working with Uvatera and Gebby in helping the Grade 3s and 4s.

She writes:
I am Isabella Tjejamba (called Bella). I have been living with HIV-AIDS for 5 years now. I have two children, an eight-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.

I want to thank EBCAIDS, you have provided food for me every month and during winter time you blessed my son with winter clothes. I thank the Lord that when I am not feeling well you pray for me.

Now I am happy to be able to help with the After School Program.

Never lose hope as you do good to people like me and my family!

In Memoriam

It’s with shock and sadness that we learned our After School volunteer, Steven Dax, passed away on 20 September. You’ll remember that he was in a car accident a few months ago. He was recently released from the medical centre where he’d been having intensive physio for the injuries he sustained in the accident and had returned home. He suddenly had a fit that interfered with his breathing and by the time help came, it was too late.

He will be remembered as a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer who really put a lot of effort into his work at the After School Program. In the last text I received from him, shortly before he was released, he was saying how much he looked forward to coming back to the ASP, even if he was still in a wheelchair.

A memorial service was held for him on Thursday evening, which a number of EBCAIDS members attended, and I was asked to say a few words. The family also expressed thanks to us for the role we played in his life.

He’ll be greatly missed.

Life is a Journey

We had fun in our Life Skills group (for the children in Grade 6 and older) this week! We are starting a chapter about choices and decision-making, so we took some ‘time-out’ to play a game called ‘The Journey’.

Three teams competed to see who could complete their ‘journey’ first, with choices having to be made at five strategic points along the way. The message of the game is that your choices determine how successful your life journey is – so choose wisely!

The children had a lot of fun…and hopefully learnt something too.

What is Literacy?

After School Program (ASP) started for the third (and last) term on 8 September. This week we had a visit from Philippa, a teacher from Australia who is visiting friends here. Philippa talked to the volunteers about her experience in the Accelerated Literacy system used in Australia to help children struggling at school because English is not their first language.

Of course, that is a challenge that many of the children at ASP have to contend with. So we were very interested to learn about the different components of literacy, and how to help the children grasp them.

Philippa explained how to use the system when reading books to the children, and how to tailor it to different ages and/or ability levels. It certainly held OUR attention – and we all rather enjoyed the book she chose (“The Bear’s Lunch”)!

Philippa then demonstrated with different groups of children at the ASP so the volunteers could see how it works in practice.
We’re very thankful she took her holiday time to teach us some new skills!

Botswana, here we come!

At the end of October, members of EBCAIDS will travel to Gaborone, to network with Flying Mission Botswana.

Flying Mission, as its name implies, is involved in flying (airplanes that is)! It works closely with the Ministry of Health and is also involved in HIV-AIDS programs and activities. We’ve met some of the Flying Mission personnel at different SIM workshops and, as we shared experiences, have seen that the context of HIV and AIDS in our two countries is quite similar. So as we visit the various projects that Flying Mission contributes to, we hope to discuss ideas and see how we can learn from each other.

Interview with a Volunteer

Name: Absalom Mbuende

Age: 23 years old

Occupation: Student, studying Business Administration

What’s your favourite part of the ASP? The activity I’m responsible for, which is the Bible Club.

What does it involve? Writing the material (currently we’re doing the Fruits of the Spirit) and presenting it through teaching, games, stories and activities.

Why do you like it? Not only do the children really love learning from the Bible, it makes a real difference in their lives.

How do you know? Recently someone who lives with one of the girls who attends the ASP told me what a great job we were doing. “I have seen her attitude and behaviour improve drastically,” I was told. “And she is constantly saying the memory verses from Bible Club, making sure she remembers them for the next week!”

My Job, My Life, My Passion

I have been a volunteer at the ASP since 2004. Through the Program I have been shaped to be not only a good teacher but also a good communicator, especially with children. I really enjoy working with children – I learn a lot from them!

I appreciate the stipend we receive in appreciation of our efforts. Deep down I pray that we can receive more so that I have enough to pay for my studies and can devote extra time to the Program. Many times I have to shrug off suggestions from church or family members who want me to find a “real job”. I also face a battle within myself – will I have enough funds to continue my studies or not?

Yet in all this, my comfort lies in the fact that I am investing in the lives of the children; not just academically but also spiritually. This really keeps me going: to influence the lives of these children who are the future.

The friendships I have with the other volunteers are phenomenal; together we form a team that is driven by passion for children as well as divine inspiration. As for our supervisors, they are our ‘parents’, our role models but – most strikingly – our friends.

This might not sound “too good to be true”, like the fairy tales we are used to, but to me it is my job, my life and my passion.

- Absalom Mbuende

End of Term 2!

Stats
The After School Program (ASP) has closed for Term 2. During June and July the average daily attendance was 74 children and the highest attendance was 99…

WOW! 99 children!! I remember when we started and thought that 35 kids were a lot…now we’ve almost tripled that number. I have a feeling we’ll be cracking the 100 barrier next term!

On average, 10 ASP children attend church at EBC on Sundays with 27 attending other churches. That means that about half of the children who come along to ASP don’t normally go to church or Sunday School.

Party!

How many can I take?

We had a closing party for the children on August 13, the last day of the ASP. We gave them cookies and juice; and also gave “goodie bags” to the children who had good attendance and good behaviour over the Term.

The Gr 1s and 2s enjoy their cookies and juice!

The teachers had a surprise because different children came and presented each of us with sweets and a note thanking us for our work with them! Now that was sweet…

George gives 'Teacher Tangee' a thank-you note