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Tue 13 Aug 2013
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The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013

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SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c
Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair?
Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform.
SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam
Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r
Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p
SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha
Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in
Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a
SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for
Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont
Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf

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NEWS - | 2013-08-06

Life Changing School Project

Tanya Bause

Miss Namibia 2013 finalist when they visited the Let children come to me Pre school.

What started as a school project last year has flourished into a community upliftment project that benefits close to 120 children in the Babylon informal settlement on the outskirts of Windhoek.

For her Grade 11 school project, Julia Kaufmann from the Waldorf Private School could not decide what she wanted to focus on, but when she and her father, Fritz Kaufman drove to Babylon and she saw the ‘Let Children Come To Me Pre Primary School’, she knew that she wanted to make a difference in these children’s lives.

The school, owned by Kaino ‘Gift’ Amakali and her husband, opened in 2000 and even though it was just one of thousands of shacks in an informal settlement, it has become home to orphans and vulnerable children in the community.

Amakali, a Windhoek College of Education graduate, says that her passion for teaching is the main reason she started the school and it has always been her dream to open a centre where children can be at home, even if its just for the afternoon.

With the help of her father, family and friends, Julia started the Children of Tomorrow (COT) project, which benefits the children of the school, most of whom are either ophaned, abused or homeless.

She opened a Facebook page for the project through which she recieves donations and keeps the followers updated on the activities she is involved in with regards to the school. So far, the group has 470 members.

The project provided the pre primary school with reading material, clothes and recently with a geyser that was donated by Penny Pinchers. It has also purchased a plot of land next to the school, in the hope of one day extending the school premises.

“The condion in which these children live is heartbreaking and I believe everyone deserves good quality education, despite where they come from,” says Julia.

She further added that hopefully the recent visit from the Miss Namibia finalists would not only open the eyes of the contestants to the brutal circumstances in which most Namibian youth grow up, but hopefully the Miss Namibia winner would take it upon herself to assist in efforts to better the lives of these children.

Julia, who is now in Grade 12, is due to further her studies in Germany and hopes that the soon to be crowned Miss Namibia will take up her project while she is away.

“I have grown so fond of the children that I wish I could one day talk to the president so I could also get him involved but for now my main focus is making the children happy.”