Standard Bank Donates Over N$600 000 in Scholarships to Vulnerable and Orphaned Girls

Standard Bank Namibia recently donated N$641 200 to the Forum for African Women Educationalists in Namibia (Fawena) at a hand-over ceremony held at the Ministry of Education Library in Windhoek.

The bank’s head of marketing, communications and corporate social initiatives, Magreth Mengo, told guests at the ceremony that they are proud to be associated with Fawena since 2009.

“As a bank, our involvement with Fawena is inspired by a quote from Benjamin Franklin, who once said ‘an investment in knowledge pays the best interest’.” Mengo said.

Over a thousand orphans and vulnerable children in secondary schools from the country’s 14 regions have benefited from Standard Bank Namibia’s generous sponsorship over the past nine years.

According to Mengo, the Fawena project is bearing fruit with many of its beneficiaries having gone on to become engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers and business people, while others are doing exceptionally well at tertiary institutions.

“Testimonies from pupils every year make us all at Standard Bank Namibia proud that through the Fawena project we are playing our part in changing the behaviour and attitudes of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in the classroom. We are glad that the project has also improved the physical outlook of beneficiaries and their interaction with other pupils and teachers, among other accomplishments,” Mengo said.

“It is priceless to hear beneficiaries saying they are now focused on their studies more than ever since they no longer have to worry about school uniforms, books, travel expenses and toiletries.”

Aune Amuthenu, a pupil at Ella Du Plessis Secondary School, paid tribute to Standard bank for providing her with her toiletries, transport money, stationery and school uniform.

She said, previously, she used to be bullied at school because of her torn shoes and uniform, which affected her self-confidence. “Standard Bank has brought peace into my life,” Amuthenu said.

“I am privileged today in the school hostel because I am exempted from paying the school hostel fees, and it’s all thanks to Standard Bank because my parents could not afford this.”

One of the notable past beneficiaries of the Fawena project, Belinda !Gaes, is now working as a finance officer at the Fawena head office in Windhoek.

!Gaes graduated with a bachelor of accounting degree from the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). “Her achievement, despite her circumstances, is truly inspirational,” Mengo said.

– Standard Bank

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