Our Projects

... for example:

"Light for the children" (Gobabis/Omaheke)

"I get up, I wash, I brush my teeth."

Angelica, Francisca and Albina chorus that they want to go to school. They are 11, 13 and 14 years old. Two are from farms and one was born in the settlement. None of them have been to school, and they all take part in Gerald Hamutenya's special classes to prepare them for formal education, if the project can find a school that will take them. The government bans children over 10 from starting in grade 1 because they disrupt the classes.

There is one school in the region that does take over-age children, on the principle that they have to go somewhere. Vergenoeg Primary School is over an hour's drive from Gobabis on a dirt road, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It simply puts the children in higher grades on the sink or swim principle. Some just run away.

Gerald is hoping to get the girls into Vergenoeg next year, but it won't be easy. Last year he tried to get 32 drop-outs from local schools into Vergenoeg, but the principal would not accept them unless they paid the school fund. The project didn't have the money for that, and has been trying to register the children for welfare grants, out of which the school fund could be paid. Getting birth certificates is the first hurdle, then details of any parents, duly certified by the police. It should be done by the social worker at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, but there are only three of them to cover the whole of Omaheke, with a population of about 70,000 people.

What do they learn at the project? They girls chant "I get up, I brush my teeth, I dress myself, I comb my hair, I go to school," then burst out laughing. They do basic maths: adding and subtraction, and are learning to write. Can they write 'Light for the Children?' "No," they giggle.

But the class is a serious business. The girls are part of a group of 30 out of school youth taught by Gerald. They attend from 8 until 11 in the morning, and the three girls help out with the kindergarten too, which gives them a sense of responsibility.