From the After School

I am a 13 year old girl in Grade 8 who has been attending the EBC After School Program in Windhoek, Namibia. The After School Program is at a church, where we go after school so that they can help us with school work and homework we don’t understand.

I have been coming since 2005 and have improved a lot in my school work. At the After School we do other activities such as Bible club, sports and art but the main aim is to improve and learn to work with each other as a team.

As with all other places, the After School has rules such as no chewing gum. Sometimes we are naughty and don’t listen to the teachers, sometimes we are even punished by being sent home but this is so we can learn from our mistakes.

There is also a fee that we should pay in order to have the equipment and materials we need for the After School, but sometimes even with what we pay, there is not enough money. I know we can work together to make the After School Program a success, if you are interested in helping us please contact Miss Julie.

This was all from Vemutiza Hangero, thank you.

Absalom helps Vemutiza with some tricky maths problems.

Living with HIV

Daniel (left), one of our newer Carers in the Home Based Care Program, talks about the challenges faced by people living with HIV and AIDS.




Hilma* is a single mother who lives in an informal settlement area on the outskirts of Windhoek. She has been living with HIV for some time but only recently found out her status. Unemployed and bringing up two children, she often wonders if it wouldn’t be better to give them up for adoption. She explains, “My ten-year-old son is also HIV positive and lives with my family in the north of the country. He is constantly sick and struggles to get proper medical care because where they stay is far from the clinic. His father gives me little assistance so I don’t know how I am supposed to support him or ensure that he remains healthy. My baby girl has so far tested HIV negative (she will have the final test at 18 months old in a few months’ time) but she also gets sick a lot. I did not breastfeed her because that’s what the doctors advised, but I think that is why she is not as strong as other children.”


John*, the father of Hilma’s daughter, is a hardworking man but is also living with HIV and this sometimes makes it difficult for him to find a job. Despite this, he is one of the few people I know who has fully accepted his HIV status and is living positively. He currently has a temporary job as a bus driver from Windhoek to the north of the country, but this means that he is often away from Hilma and their daughter. “I want to work hard to support my daughter,” he says, “so I will take whatever job I can get.”


They tell me that my visits have made a great difference to them – knowing that someone cares and being able to talk about their problems. As we meet we also discuss what the Bible says and spiritual issues. Hilma recently asked for a Bible in her home language and was so happy when we were able to give her one. She’s now texting encouraging Bible verses that she finds to her friends!


Living with HIV requires a great deal of dedication, patience and bravery. My role is to support Hilma and John through the ups and downs and pray that they find the true hope available in Christ Jesus.

* not their real names

Face the Nation

We’re sending two of our After School volunteers, Lazarus and Colly, to get trained in the Face the Nation program in Gaborone, Botswana.

Run by the Open Baptist Church, Face the Nation aims to prevent HIV and AIDS by teaching senior secondary school students about abstinence through Christian principles, using peer mentoring.

Each year Face the Nation trains university students and then places them in schools for five weeks where they teach the program under the Guidance and Counselling Department. Apart from life skills and HIV-AIDS, the training covers leadership, basic counselling, an overview of the Bible, personal evangelism, discipleship, spirituality and ethics.

The volunteers go to schools all over Botswana in teams of three. They’re available for group and one-on-one peer counselling with the students, help with sports and other extracurricular activities, work closely with other supportive groups such as Scripture Union, build relationships with students and, most importantly, peer mentor on the school campuses.

For more information you can go to www.facethenation.org .

This is one of the programs we were introduced to on our networking trip to Flying Mission Botswana last year. It seems like an excellent way to reach young people and prepare them for life after school. We’re excited that we can take part, even if it is with only two volunteers. This is the first time Namibians are included in the training and they will join students from Botswana and Zambia. We are interested to see if the program can be used in Namibian schools and are looking forward to hearing all Lazarus’ and Colly’s experiences.

They leave for Gaborone on 7 May, the training starts on 10 May and their last day of teaching will be 16 July.

It’s a terrific opportunity, but quite an intensive time so please pray for Lazarus and Colly as they go to learn and minister in a different country and culture.

Reading...Afternoons

As posted last month, we received a donation of some great reading books. Problem is, the daily program is already so full…solution: special Reading Afternoons! Currently only one Friday per month (we don’t normally have After School Program on Fridays), the children come and just enjoy reading for a couple of hours. The first one was held in March and about 25 children came. As soon as we told them that time was up they wanted to know if they could come back next Friday and why weren’t we having Reading Afternoons every week?

Today, although the ASP officially closed for the term yesterday, we squeezed in a second Reading Afternoon. The next one will only be in June, once school resumes.

Mercia, one of our volunteers, uses the literacy method for reading to the younger ones (Grades 1 – 3) and the older ones read by themselves with volunteers on hand to help them with words they don’t know. After they finish, they answer a few questions to check that they’ve understood what the book is about. They are then able to record the book on their Reading Sheet. Once a child has read 10 books, s/he will be able to choose one to take home as a prize.

Reading is an area in which many Namibian school children struggle (through the first Reading Afternoon we were able to identify a Grade 5 student who cannot read at all). We hope that through this initiative, the children’s literacy will improve, which will lead to an overall improvement in their learning and marks.

ASP update

115!!!

115 what, you might be asking?

Children, of course! That is the highest daily attendance during March and for the After School Program to date. During March, the daily attendance rarely fell below 100 and has varied between 104 and 115.

Although the growth is good, inevitably such numbers place strain on the volunteers. We’re thankful for the 7 full-time and 6 part-time volunteers who made themselves available this term. New volunteers are Daniel and Colly (full-time) and Paul and Nambee (part-time).

School holidays are from 24 April to 25 May, so the ASP closes for Term 1 on 15 April and reopens on 31 May.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Reading

A big thank you goes to Branxton Public School in New South Wales, Australia, for the donation of reading books!

Some of the children and volunteers with the thank-you banner they made

As posted previously, one of Branxton’s teachers, Philippa Furner, was visiting friends in Windhoek last year and gave a talk and demonstration to the ASP volunteers about a literacy program used in Australia for children whose first language is not English.

When Philippa went back to Australia and told her school about the ASP, they agreed to donate books they receive through the Scholastic Book Club. This is very much appreciated as it is difficult to get good books for different reading levels here.

And were the children excited when they saw the box of books!
“Can we read them now?”
“Can I just have a quick look?”
“I want that one!”
…were just some of the comments!

The old and the new

IKUA
Ikuaterua Mujetenga started coming to the ASP as a first grader in 2006. Now he’s in Grade 5 and still attending – and wants to for many more years!

Before coming to the ASP, he hadn’t heard much about God. Now Ikua’s favourite activity is the Bible Club and through it he has learnt that God created us all and is always with His people.

His Maths marks have improved from a D to a B symbol and he thinks his communication skills are much better because of the ASP and the constant interaction with the teachers and other children.

Ikua says he likes coming to the ASP because of the way the volunteers interact and the love they show to the children.

Ikua (right) helps his friend Tjingaitjita with a project

KUNO
Kunouoje is a new-comer to the ASP as she only started coming this year. Also in Grade 5, she says her Maths and English have improved even in the short time she’s been attending.

The activities Kuno likes best are Bible Club and sports – sports because she enjoys running around, and Bible Club because she is encouraged to ask questions about the Bible and talk about it with her friends.

Kuno admires the volunteer teachers – she says that their attitude and manners set a good example for her to follow. Her favourites are Tangee and Hauta.

Kuno busy with a worksheet

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE:
Ikuaterua = ii-kwa-teh-rwa
Kunouoje = koo-no-wo-yeh