Hello My Dear Family and Friends!!
After continued reminders from my mom, “Honey, you PROMISED
to update your blog every month” and a wonderful month here in Windhoek
, I present you with the latest and
greatest from our little corner of the world!
It began on a sad note as Jim “Scooter” McKinney
returned to New York
after being with us for two months. The
kids really grew to love him, and visa-versa. (please read his blog for BEAUTIFUL stories and photos of the children. It is: jmcken82.blogspot.com)
So, on his last day, he chose seven children who he was
closest to, to go with us to the airport to see him off. We picked them up at the center, they were
all ready and waiting in their nicest clothes. Those seven were: Esme,
Charlotte, Salome, Susmitha, Martha, Wendy and Romashel. We waited in the line while Scooter checked
in, then we sat down together on the floor, in a quiet place, to talk. Scooter gave them each a bag with food and a
small stuffed toy. As we were sitting
there, they looked over in shock at the automatic door. Fifteen year old Romashel exclaimed, “Hey
everybody! Look at that door! What a clever door! It knows to open itself when people are
standing there wanting to go in and out!!” They said, “Can WE go over and see the door open and close?” Scooter and I looked at one another and burst
out laughing! They all ran over and
stood in front of the door, watched it magically open, then walked through, watched
it close, turned around and came back in. They did this for almost 30 minutes, and would have done it all night if
we did not call them back! What an
amazing realization it was for us that these kids had never seen an automatic
door!
After a very tearful goodbye, I drove home with the kids
crying the entire time. The only way I
could console them was to let them come to my home and take photos and send Scooter an email. They all wanted to see
the bedroom, and piled onto his bed. I felt like I was taking them through a
museum, they wanted to see where he slept, brushed his teeth, made his
breakfast, etc ! Too funny!!
The HAPPY part of the month was the arrival of Marloes, a
volunteer from the Netherlands
. She immediately filled Scooter’s shoes, which
was no easy task! She jumped on a bicycle
her first day here, we rode off to the center and she took over in the computer
room. With a VERY GENEROUS donation
from her family, and donations from the Rotary Clubs of Ossining, New York and
Windhoek Auas, we were able to purchase
the components needed to have NINE working computers! My housemate, Sebastian, was the driving
force behind it all, as he spent endless hours at computer places trying to get
us good, used computers for the lowest possible prices. One day the kitchen table would be covered
with a million tiny computer pieces, the next day we would have another
computer up and running at the BNC. Now
every day 40 children can spend time
playing educational games in the computer room. It is absolutely magnificent to see them in there, they just LOVE it! And more and more children are coming to the
center to use the computers, and staying to read stories and play educational
games.
The other great news is the unbelievable growth of the
Saturday Soccer Program. In the past six
weeks we have grown from 15 teams to 38 teams!!! It is INCREDIBLE! Every week new teams will show up at the
field and I will loan them pinnies and have them play against one of the
“regular” teams. I told them we were not
interested in who won or lost, but that they all did their best and showed good
sportsmanship both on and off the field. Slowly but surely I gave the teams jerseys, shorts and socks. Now, all but four teams are fully outfitted! HUGE thanks go out to Malcolm and Rosa from
SCORE company who organized the donation of HUNDREDS of uniforms, and from
players and coaches all over New
York
State
who collected uniforms in their communities and sent them to us. Kudos to all the packing pixies, too, who
spent MANY HOURS in my parent’s basement sorting and packing the uniforms to be
hauled over here by good-natured visitors!! Truly it was a TEAM EFFORT to get those uniforms from the players’ backs
in New York
to the players’ backs in Namibia
!! The way the kids play in their uniforms with
so much pride and excitement is the huge reward of so much work. A million thanks to everyone involved!
And the last bit of wonderful news before I conclude this
update, is that I will be traveling in the south of Namibia from June 18th
to the 23rd, giving one day workshops to volunteers who are
interested in running after school programs. It will be all about making games from
recycled materials, and how children can learn from playing educational
games. I will be conducting these
workshops with Rashied, an employee from Catholic Aids Action. The hope is that after preparing and carrying
out these workshops with me, Rashied will then become the “expert” and will be
able to teach these skills to others. It
is the first GIANT step toward empowering the Namibian adults to help with the
educational and developmental needs of the children in their communities. VERY EXCITING STUFF!!! Where there was despair, there is now
HOPE!! MAGNIFICENT!!
Okay, my brief update has turned into quite a long one! And there is so much more to say, but that
will have to wait for another time!
I cannot sign off without giving GREAT thanks to all of you
for your unconditional love and support and your OVERWHELMING generosity. I cannot personally thank you all, but I
assure you of my prayers and best wishes as I continue my work here with the
children. Please come and visit so you
can see the happiness that YOU have brought these kids! In the meantime, I will try and get more
photos posted and feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments: marybeth_gallagher@yahoo.com.
Big hugs and tons of love,
xoxoxxoxoxox
MB :)
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