World Street Children News :: Namibia Streetkid News

allAfrica.com: Namibia: Farmers Support Street Children

The Namibian (Windhoek)

March 29, 2006
Posted to the web March 29, 2006

Staff Reporter
Windhoek

MEMBERS of the Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union have donated building materials to develop a plot of land at Gobabis for a project in aid of street children.

The Lig vir die Kinders (Light for the Children) Project in Gobabis is run by Pastor Olwage.

He approached the Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union and asked for building materials during their annual meeting at the end of last year.

The union in turn approached its members, who collected unused material lying around on their farms.

Last weekend the farmers donated the building materials to the project.

This included cement, door and window frames, toilet seats, paint, tiles, kitchen appliances and utensils.

Donated materials that cannot be used will be sold and the money used to buy usable items.

The Gobabis Regional Agricultural Union, which already donates wood and food on a regular basis, will help with the further collection of building materials, as a lot is still needed.

Kay-Dieter Rumpf, Chairman of the union, said the farmers were impressed with the way the project was run and decided to help wherever possible.

The project looks after about 200 children.

The main aim is to take in street children and give them basic pre-school education.

The children are also given information about HIV-AIDS and receive leadership training.

The project also helps to pay the school fees of children who are in formal schools.

The children receive a meal each day and the project is totally dependent on donations.

Currently, a large building made from reeds and corrugated-iron sheets doubles as a church and a school.

There is also a shelter that was donated by a church in South Africa.

This shelter needs to be enclosed so that it can be used as a kitchen.

Plans for the future include three classrooms, toilets and bathrooms.

The whole complex is fenced off with a security fence donated by a member of the Epukiro Farmers’ Association.

Pastor Olwage appeals to people not to give the town’s street children money, as this encourages them to beg rather than to come to the project for education."

Street Children Learn On Their Own Terms
The Namibian (Windhoek)

March 7, 2006
Posted to the web March 7, 2006

Tanja Bause
Windhoek

THEY are small, dirty and everybody tries to ignore their outstretched hands as they beg for money.

They are an ever-increasing problem on the streets of towns and cities in Namibia.

They are the street children.

The Big Issue magazine has now started a school for the children to teach them basic numeracy and literacy.

They also receive art classes and counselling, a hot meal and have the opportunity to take a shower and wash their clothes.

"We used to give them new clothing but the next day they returned in their old rags.

The older children and adults on the street take their clothing away and sell it," says art teacher Jonathan Joba.

The Big Issue does not force the children to attend classes; they do so out of their own will and only attend on days they feel like it.

"These children are used to earning money, you cannot expect them to sit in a classroom with other children.

They are adults living in an adult world and there is no money to be made sitting in a classroom," says Big Issue director Jo Rogge.

On sunny days most children are on the streets making money.

The children are used to doing their own thing and many have been criminalised by life on the street.

They are not used to discipline or authority figures in their lives.

They themselves need to have a complete mind change before they are ready to adapt to a life as schoolchildren in uniforms.

The classes started three weeks ago and the number of children attending is steadily climbing as word spreads on the street.

All the children are registered in order so start a comprehensive databank on street children, as statistics on street children are very scarce.

They receive counselling, as many if not all come from broken and abusive homes.

Some of the children attended school before being forced to live on the street and have very basic literacy skills.

Brendon Josef (10) and Sidney Corman (10) both ran away from their homes in Okahandja and are now living under the bridges of Windhoek.

"We came to Windhoek as there is more money to be made here," they say.

Ester Nangombe, who is studying to become a teacher through the South African distance-learning university Unisa, teaches the children.

She has about 20 children registered but only some attend daily.

"They are very enthusiastic and want to learn, but on their own terms.

If they don’t feel like it, they chat or just don’t turn up."

Mostly though, the classes are well attended.

In the art classes the children draw their feelings and some of the paintings are violent and very vivid images of their lives before the streets, as well as the dangers they now face daily.