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Charity drive brings warmth to children

Charity drive brings warmth to children

NEEDY children around Windhoek last week received blankets to keep them warm at night.Radio Wave’s charity drive distributed more than 600 blankets and duvets, which had been donated by the station’s listeners.

The Children’s Hope soup kitchen in Okahandja Park was one of the 10 organisations to benefit. The kitchen is run by 24 local volunteers under the Hope Initiatives Project and feeds about 200 children every day.”We have three projects,” says Patricia, the person behind the programme.”The soup kitchen provides children nutritious meals six times a week.The school readiness programme has 60 children who have dropped out of school at one point; we are preparing them to get back to their studies.The third one is a scholarship programme, and we have been able to send 25 children back to school.”The programme started with 12 children, who were either orphaned or infected with HIV.The people behind the programme wanted to make some difference in their lives.Now, three years later, there are 340 children involved.”It is hard to be a child in this community.The project takes children away from alcohol and smoking.We let the kids be children for a while”, Patricia says.”We try to build their self-esteem so that they would have high expectations of themselves.”Radio Wave has organised charity drives since the station was launched seven years ago.”We try to help those schools and homes with little support.In the beginning we didn’t know the places in greatest need, but now Jutta Rohwer from Katutura project helps us to select them.She knows all the worthy homes and schools,” says Jacquie Lohmann of Radio Wave.The radio station runs charity drives roughly every two months, collecting specific items needed by 10 homes at a time.For example, two months from now it will collect canned food, then balls and other sports equipment, and in December it will be time for Christmas gifts.People either bring goods directly to a collection point, or needed items are bought with donated money.The kitchen is run by 24 local volunteers under the Hope Initiatives Project and feeds about 200 children every day.”We have three projects,” says Patricia, the person behind the programme.”The soup kitchen provides children nutritious meals six times a week.The school readiness programme has 60 children who have dropped out of school at one point; we are preparing them to get back to their studies.The third one is a scholarship programme, and we have been able to send 25 children back to school.”The programme started with 12 children, who were either orphaned or infected with HIV.The people behind the programme wanted to make some difference in their lives.Now, three years later, there are 340 children involved.”It is hard to be a child in this community.The project takes children away from alcohol and smoking.We let the kids be children for a while”, Patricia says.”We try to build their self-esteem so that they would have high expectations of themselves.”Radio Wave has organised charity drives since the station was launched seven years ago.”We try to help those schools and homes with little support.In the beginning we didn’t know the places in greatest need, but now Jutta Rohwer from Katutura project helps us to select them.She knows all the worthy homes and schools,” says Jacquie Lohmann of Radio Wave.The radio station runs charity drives roughly every two months, collecting specific items needed by 10 homes at a time.For example, two months from now it will collect canned food, then balls and other sports equipment, and in December it will be time for Christmas gifts.People either bring goods directly to a collection point, or needed items are bought with donated money.

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