Continuation Our trainees

Both are currently completing a six-month internship at a hotel here in Swakopmund. Although the conditions at the two hotels are very different, they confirm that they are learning a great deal, both theoretically and now in practice, and are grateful for it.

Petronella is in the first year of her office training and has already become much more self-confident and cheerful. Without knowing it, we have been supporting her for many years, first at Waldfrieden Elementary School near Omaruru, then at Martin Luther High School (MLH), and now at COSDEC during her training. I am grateful that we have been investing in young people in the student dormitories for 12 years now. We don't know what has become of most of them, but every now and then a grateful young person emerges.

Marvellous is training to be a nurse, which is significantly more expensive than the training at COSDEC. When we hired her two years ago, she only wanted us to cover her training costs, as her family could cover her living expenses themselves. Unfortunately, that wasn't entirely true in reality. Now we're helping her out with additional transportation costs and a food allowance, as she had to be hospitalized last year due to malnutrition. Now she seems happy and well-adjusted again. She'll definitely become a good nurse next year.

The other two trainees Roceline and Martinus are in Okombahe and are completing a 1.5-year online teacher training program. But more about that when I report on Okombahe.

Our current 8 trainees will financed by sponsors in Germanywho have agreed to 1-3 years a full (1800.-€) or half (900.-€) apprenticeship per year to finance. If desired, they are welcome to contact the trainees personally. We plan to select new trainees in personal interviews at the end of October.back

Fortsetzung  Stadtradeln 13202km

Ein besonderer Dank gilt auch der Evangelischen Kirchengemeinde in Pfedelbach. Christian Dengler hat sich dafür eingesetzt, dass Eberhard Bauer von der Druckerei Bauer und Hansjörg Stickel von Hosti GmbH das Ergebnis des „Team Evangelische Kirchengemeinde“ mit 4234km für den Namibiaverein mit spendet. Damit wird der Erlös für Namibia noch zweimal um 42,34 € erhöht.

Mit dem eingefahrenen Geld der Sponsoren können wir

·    entweder 14 Kinder in einem staatlichen Schülerheim für ein Jahr fördern

·    oder 20 Kinder in der Suppenküche für ein Jahr versorgen

·    oder unseren pädagogischen Spielraum (Toy Library) für 1 Jahr öffnen.

 Vielen Dank an die großzügigen Sponsoren!                             zurück

Continuation Post from Namibia, Part 5

It has been unfinished for over a year, even though all the materials are there. But the workers are gambling with wage demands that the government refuses to pay. Therefore, nothing has progressed. We already helped with an outstanding amount at the end of last year. But that seems not to have been enough, because now everything has come to a standstill again because other workers were not satisfied with the wages offered. I argued for a long time with the administrative official about this. On the one hand, he complained about the workers' attitude, but on the other hand, he now wanted the money back from us. Without going into details, this is very annoying and also hurtful for me. Now we are trying to find a new way to get the kindergarten finished and reopened soon. Only then can our Toy Library (educational play area) functioning normally again. Let's see if anything changes in the coming weeks.

And things are slowly but surely moving forward: There's a new German teacher at MLH, and since last week, the lights in the teachers' room have been back on. However, water is still very irregular in Okombahe.

In recent months and years, I have seen many different projects and initiatives by Germans in Namibia. The beautiful buildings were built with project funds. Such beautiful buildings, such clean and tidy materials, Our children in Okombahe have never experienced such a structured environment before. That makes me sad sometimes. But we don't have the money for that, and so far we have nor anyone in the club who would like to submit applications for this and strategically advances ideas locally with us.

What Margret and I can do and what we always try to do is help the people in our projects with respect and love at eye level We try to experience the daily lives of those in charge (of the soup kitchens, kindergartens, schools) and the project participants (the children, students, and trainees) and support them in their daily lives. Our farewell party here in Okombahe was another such opportunity to sing, dance, and eat together, to which many brought their own food.

That’s all for today, thank you for your interest in the people of Namibia.

In the last few weeks you have five reports I will tell you a lot about the current situation in Namibia. If you are interested, If you would like to hear more or contribute your skills, please contact us.back

Continuation Post from Namibia, Part 4

Aluceus and Titus, The two bricklayer apprentices were blessed to have passed their Maths1 exam retrospectively and now have to write the exams for the second year if they want to. Emil, The trained office clerk will retake the exam he failed in May and will practice for it online beforehand.

Two of the eight trainees, Roceline and Martinus, live in Okombahe and are Two-year online educator training at NAMCOL. We pay both of them their living expenses during their training, and they also work approximately 30 hours a week with children in the toy library, the student dormitory, or in the elementary school preschool class. We were able to give Martinus a good used laptop from his sponsor in Germany for learning and working. We hope that we can support the young children in Okombahe with the two trainees. The practical experience will be beneficial to their training, so for me, this is a win-win situation.

If you are willing to sponsor a young Namibian for a year of training, please feel free to contact us.

back

Fortsetzung                  Post aus Namibia, Teil 3

Wie kann mit wenig Wasser ein Garten bewirtschaftet werden? Wie kann man eigenen Samen ziehen? Welche Pflanzen wachsen im gleichen Beet gut zusammen? Wie bekomme ich meinen eigenen Kompost? Alle diese Antworten waren für unsere Personen aus Okombahe sehr wichtig. Laurenz und Jasmin und auch wir wollen sehen, was sich im kommenden halben Jahr in den Gärten verändert. Aber Gärten in Okombahe sind wegen des ständigen Wasserproblems immer ein Risiko. Und geregnet hat es leider bisher in Okombahe immer noch viel zu wenig, es ist alles trocken, trocken, trocken.

Fortbildung hat vor ein paar Tagen auch Margret einigen Frauen gegeben. Wie kann frisches Gemüse haltbar gemacht oder eingekocht werden? Mit sechs jüngeren Frauen hat sie sich ausgetauscht und die Möglichkeiten praktisch angewendet. Yvonne, die auch dabei war, war ganz begeistert und will diese Fortbildung demnächst mit anderen Frauen selbst anbieten. Kleine Erfolgsnachrichten?

Seit drei Jahren leitet Roceline nun unsere Toy-Library (pädagogischen Spielraum) in Okombahe. Ungelernt, aber interessiert, hat sie das zwei Jahre lang gemacht, nun studiert sie seit einem Jahr als Erzieherin im Fernstudium bei NAMCOL. Sie ist ganz begeistert und hat mir gestern viele neue Ideen gezeigt und will diese auch den anderen Erziehrinnen in Okombahe weitergeben.

Seit diesem Jahr fördern wir neben Roceline auch Martinus, einen jungen Mann, der auch durch NAMCOL Erzieher werden will. Damit er sein Fernstudium absolvieren kann, bezahlen wir ihm seinen einfachen Lebensunterhalt. Dafür hilft er täglich Roceline für drei Stunden in der Toy-Library und gibt für drei Stunden den älteren Kindern im Schülerheim (Klasse 5-7) Nachhilfe in Mathe und Englisch. Unser erster Eindruck ist sehr gut: er ist motiviert und die Kinder freuen sich auf ihn.

Beate, unser derzeitiger Gast, ist auch Erzieherin und hat sich auf vielen Gebieten weitergebildet. Mit Margret zusammen besuchte sie die Kindergärten, die Toy-Library und hat in der Vorklasse der Grundschule mitgeholfen. Ganz spontan durfte sie überall dabei sein, das tat ihr gut und den Menschen in Okombahe auch.

Margret und Beate haben mit den Frauen in Okombahe auch den ökumenischen „Weltgebetstag der Frauen“ zum Thema „Frauen in Palästina“ gefeiert und hinterher gemeinsam gegessen. Das war für die anwesenden Frauen sehr interessant und mutmachend. Sie wollen sich gleich wieder treffen und speziell für die Frauen und Mädchen in Namibia beten. Die offiziellen Zahlen der Gewalt gegenüber Frauen und Mädchen in Namibia liegen jährlich bei ca. 3000 Fällen und die Dunkelziffer ist mit Sicherheit wesentlich höher.

An einem Samstag sind wir mit unserem Gast und eigentlich fünf jüngeren Namibiern, Roceline, Martinus, Emely, Rosmarie und David, die uns in den Projekten helfen, zum Brandberg zur „White Lady“ gefahren. Niemand von denen war jemals am Brandberg. Sie kennen die Schönheiten Namibias nicht. Leider kamen Rosmarie (Krankheit ihres Kindes) und Emely nicht mit. Emely war an dem Morgen im Haus ihrer Tante, die in der Nacht von ihrem gewaltsamen Freund erstochen worden war. Die Frau hinterlässt sechs kleine Kinder, die ab jetzt bei der Oma großgezogen werden. Ein schreckliches Beispiel von geschlechtsspezifischer Gewalt, die in Namibia zurzeit immer mehr in der medialen Öffentlichkeit beachtet wird.

So viel für heute, vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an den Menschen in Namibia               zurück

Continuation Post from Namibia, Part 2

The bakery in Okombahe, which we supported as a start-up for a while, shows me more and more clearly how human guilt are often reasons for the deficiency.

Perhaps out of necessity, but still criminally disappeared last year Flour sacks and money in your own pockets, but even worse is the energy company that is in the Top floors embezzled millions but deducts so much money from small projects just for the provision of electricity that a village project cannot survive.

Additionally, Yvonne, who has been trying to keep the bakery in Okombahe running since November, reported the following yesterday: She was away on a training course last week and handed over responsibility to a member of staff we have known for a long time. When Yvonne returned, the member of staff complained that the money she had taken in had been stolen. Strangely, one of her relatives was suddenly able to sell a lot of meat. The police are taking up the case, but as so often happens, the victims have to provide evidence that the police cannot find on their own. That people in need could behave so corruptly towards one another and the police would even look the other way was unimaginable to me before.

I am currently reading the second book by the Namibian politician here in Namibia Libertina Amathila “The Emty Armchair”. She describes her "retirement," in which she became a professional farmer. As a proud Namibian, she served the state in high government offices for twenty years and is now also disappointed by some of the Namibians' attitudes. The general mentality of the “Give me” (autere) She describes it very clearly with an example. A water pump shared by several farmers on a government-assigned resettlement farm stopped working. They complained about the lack of water. Only a belt had broken, which costs the equivalent of €9. No one wanted to pay for it, even though they had enough money to go to a restaurant. It doesn't belong to me alone; the government should pay for it.

This Mentality of “give me” (autere) We hear this again and again. I had a long conversation with the first administrative officer of the district office in Okombahe. He has organized a sports tournament in Omaruru for next weekend, provided transport, and new jerseys, but now they are still missing drinks and some food. None of the parents are willing to contribute anything. And without complete supplies, the sports tournament will not take place. But then I also said NO, Because parents need to be educated over time to make their own contribution. This "give me" (autere) mentality hinders so much of their own development and makes it so difficult for Margret and me to provide the level of help they need: Where do we need to help because otherwise nothing will move forward and where do we support the unfortunate “autere” mentality?

But now I've talked enough about the shortages and problems; next time I want to tell you about positive success stories.

That's it for today, thank you for your interest in the people of Namibia back