May Update!!

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 18^th to the 23^rd, 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 :)

Comments

[preachermom]

WELL DONE, MB!!

Keep these blog entries coming!

I especially loved the "door" story.

Love, Mom

[Maureen]

MB,Thanks for keeping us updated with the wonderful workyou are doing!

[Samantha Holley]

Mary Beth,

I do not know if you remember me but I was a volunteer at CAA last fall through the Center for Global Education. We only met towards the end of my stay because I left in December. Well I bascially lost all of my contact information that I collected between windhoek, two different hostels in capetown and my mess of a room in indiana. I tried getting in contact with Nadia through an e-mail address that GGE gave me but I never got a response. I was randomly searching the web when I came across your name in an article about bicycles. That lead me to search more and i found this blog. I can not tell you how incredibly overjoyed I am to have found this. I was looking through you pictures and started crying because I miss CAA so much. I think about the kids all the time but I didn't know what to do since i had no way of contacting them but now I DO!!!