Maxuilili centre provides educational resources, food and training

THE Nataniel Maxuilili Community Centre was opened in 1999 in the Babylon informal settlement and the next year saw the addition of a library and computer room.

Today, about 100 children come to the centre after school. They come to do their homework, read, play on the computers or to watch some TV. The children can become members of the library for N$1 per child per year and this allows them to take the books home and return them once read. The centre also has the NOLNET (Namibian Open Learning Network) Grade 10 and 12 textbook collection.Adults also make use of the centre and especially the computers as the centre has an Internet connection (they pay N$6 per year for membership). The library and computer section of the centre is open daily form 08h00 to 17h00 and on Saturdays from 09h00 to 13h00. This is the only library in the vicinity and people and children from the surrounding informal settlements of Babylon, Okahandja Park and Kilimanjaro come here to read and do research.The centre also has a soup kitchen where roughly 300 children receive a meal five times a week, provided there is food. The soup kitchen is reliant on donations, which then get prepared by volunteers. When there is food, it gets cooked and handed out to the children.Women also use the centre to take sewing classes so that they can generate a small income for themselves and their families. The centre provides them with skills training like costing and marketing.The centre recently received a donation from the Italian NGO, CISP Namibia, consisting of a computer, printer-scanner, digital camera, fax, telephone and furniture. The organisation has been assisting the centre with various projects and donations since 2001.