November, 2006 Update

Hello Everyone!

 Love and greetings from Namibia!  We are well into summer!  Wheeeee!  The days are getting warmer and longer! I love it!

 I will again apologize for not updating this blog in six months! I know the whole purpose of a blog is to give frequent updates and to keep it current, but I ALWAYS want to give these detailed, all encompassing entries and when I get half way through and it is four pages long, I just give up! Instead, I will now take my mother’s good, sound advice and just write to you about specific, wonderful events that have recently taken place! Here goes!

 On October 20^th, I turned 42 years old. So, to celebrate in fine fashion, I invited all the children with whom I work, to go to the municipal swimming pool for the day. There are about 150 kids in the after school program, and about 500 in the Saturday soccer program, but I was sure that most of them would not attend. So, I planned on about 300 kids, brought food for them and received permission from the municipality to bring all the children, and the adult chaperones into the pool for free. It is a gorgeous facility, with a 10 lane, 50 meter pool and then an enormous kiddie pool. There is also a large field for playing sports, a playground and numerous areas with thatched roofs for sitting in the shade and lounging.

 So, I made all the plans and showed up at the center! How many kids showed up? Take a guess? FIVE HUNDRED SIXTY FIVE!!! Wheee! The fun had begun! We got them all organized and walked over to the pool, and then lined them up at the entryway. I could never have done it without the 30 adult volunteers who just kept everything under control! The woman behind the counter kept saying, “YOU CANNOT DO THIS! YOU CANNOT BRING ALL OF KATUTURA INTO THIS POOL!” and she was on the phone calling everyone she could to protest, while I kept shuffling the kids past the security guards. Well, it was a day I will never forget as long as I live. Those kids had so much fun, they screamed and squealed with delight and jumped in and out of that pool all day long! There was not a single quarrel or fight, nobody was rude or misbehaved. They were so happy! I stood by the side of the pool and kept my eyes GLUED on the area where it begins to slope down and get deeper. But nobody ever crossed the line, they seemed to clearly know where they should and should not be. As 90% of them cannot swim or even tread water, I was seriously concerned about their safety, but I also had two other professional lifeguards keeping watch.

 At lunchtime, I explained to the kids that we only had food for 300 and would share. If they were hungry, they could go home and eat there. Well, no complaints! The volunteers sliced all the sandwiches and apples in half, and divided it all up so that everybody got something! A modern day enactment of the loaves and fishes!

 After the food was served, I was presented with a birthday gift! It was from the Moses Garoeb Youth Club (about which I will write in my next update). It was a gorgeous, hand sewn traditional Ovambo dress, a head scarf and necklace. Of course I had to put it on right away, and spent the entire afternoon at the side of the pool in the dress! I kept thinking, “I hope I don’t have to jump in to save anybody!” All the kids laughed and called me “Oma”, which means Grandma! Check out the photos, you can see for yourself!

 We stayed until  5 pm, when they closed the pool. We were the last to leave, and we cleaned up the entire place so it was as spotless as when we arrived. I walked back to the center with the kids, who were all completely exhausted. Some said it was the happiest day of their lives, and many asked if we could do it every week. “Well, maybe once a month,” I said, grinning.

 I was riding my bicycle home and just thanking God for the most amazing day, thanking him that nobody got hurt and that all those kids whose lives are so difficult and strewn with violence and abuse, were able to spend one day in complete happiness and joy. That is why it was a day I will never forget.

 Another marvelous day was just yesterday. I got a call two days ago from Lucy, an amazing woman from New York who has been living and working in Namibia for years. She was actually the Co-foundress of Catholic Aids Action, and now works for another magnificent NGO helping Aids Orphans and other vulnerable children. She asked me if I could give a super quick, spur of the moment workshop for 15 of the adults in her organization who had come from all parts of Namibia for a week-long conference.  She said that their meetings were heavy and technical, and she wanted to give them a break from that. She asked if I could give my workshop on making educational games from rubbish. Now, this is something I delight in doing, and I have about 20 great games that I make with just cardboard, bottle caps, scissors and magic markers. The workshop is usually all day long, I demonstrate the games and then we make them so that everyone knows how to make and play them. Then they can go share what they have learned with  adults and kids all over Namibia.   When I asked her how much time she had available, she said, “One hour.” So, I stayed up the entire night making the games, and at 8 am, after only having 2.5 hours of sleep, I rode my bike to their center with my backpack stuffed with goodies! I was charged up, never had I condensed an 8 hour presentation into one hour! I just didn’t stop! I showed them all the stuff I had made and gave them a super quick demonstration on how the kids play the games. They were thrilled and stunned! They saw all the stuff you can make with recycled materials and they were IMPRESSED! They were so impressed, in fact, that they begged me to go to their regions and to teach all the teachers and volunteers who work with children! And, they asked if they could come to the BNC, the center where I work every afternoon, to see the kids in action playing the games!! So, I said, “YES!!!!”

 Then, I raced back to meet with Barbara and John. Barbara Butchart is my best friend here. She works at the Polytechnic and is in charge of international students. She has arranged for a group of 25 students from Brock University in Canada to come here for two weeks in May, 2007. The students will spend two weeks doing volunteer work in a number of non profit organizations. Most of them will be places where I have been volunteering and which you have been supporting with your donations of story books and educational games. John Kaethler is the Professor from Brock who will be directing the trip. So, the three of us spent four hours going to eight different kindergartens, bridging schools and centers where the students could potentially volunteer. At each place we were greeted with hugs and kisses from the children, and the adults were thrilled with the idea of having student volunteers for a few weeks. I kept thinking to myself, “THIS is why I am here in Namibia!”   The whole idea of the trip is to build personal relationships between the Canadian students and the Namibian people. It is to bridge the immense gap between our countries and cultures and to bring us together, not as Africans and North Americans, but as caring, loving human beings who are determined to make a difference in this world full of corruption, violence and greed. I became more and more inspired as the day went on. The fifteen adults from the morning workshop were already at the center when I returned with Barbara and John. They spent two hours there playing and observing the children. Instead of taking the kids down for tennis lessons, I stayed and supervised, answered questions from the visitors and just made sure the kids were taken care of. Again the visitors asked for my contact information and told me they REALLY wanted me to come to their communities to teach the educators!!   Again, I thought, “This is why I am here in Namibia!” It is imperative for the adults to know this!! They must realize that children do not learn from sitting silently and being beaten if they talk! They must see that children will flourish if you put them in a stimulating, educational environment with positive feedback and lots and lots of love!! This is what they were exposed to all afternoon, and they left fully charged and inspired to carry on the work and begging for more!

 It was, without a doubt, the most inspiring day I have had in a long, long time. From 8 am to 5 pm I was reaffirmed over and over again. I saw tremendous hope in these little kindergartens and their teachers doing everything they could to help the kids. I was inspired by the enthusiasm of the workshop participants to soak up everything I could give them, and to beg for more. I was touched by the children at the BNC, by their manners and their hospitality to receive these strangers and to play games with them all afternoon. I was overwhelmed with satisfaction, affirmation and felt tremendously fulfilled. For the past couple of weeks I have been a bit negative, and have wondered to myself why I am even here. I wondered if I could ever make a change.  I actually thought of just giving up because I despaired of ever having any impact on the educational system here.  All my attempts seemed like an exercise in futility. So, after all the kids and the visitors had gone home, I just sat down at one of the outside tables, and thanked God for the day. I thought, “God knows just when I need a boost. Just when I want to give up, I am inspired beyond my wildest dreams. I am filled with grace, and have tremendous hope for the future of Namibia.  These are only tiny seeds we are sowing, but they are seeds of hope. And hope springs eternal!”

 As I sat there in prayer and contemplation, little Salome, who is absolutely one of my favorite kids at the center, came over and sat down next to me. “Can I braid your hair?” she asked. “Yes, Salome. I would love a braid. And there is nobody in all of Namibia who is better at braiding my hair than you! Thank You!”   I have been trying for two years to get Salome, who is in 4^th grade, to read when she is at the center, and she won’t do it. She is super clever, and can speak three languages fluently, but will NOT read. I think she tried reading in school and was publicly humiliated, so she will not try anymore. So, while she was braiding my hair, I received a text message on my cel phone. I pulled it out of my pocket and began to read it, and Salome peered over my shoulder and started reading some of the words!! I almost dropped the phone! I pulled her into my arms and started hugging her and said, “SALOME, YOU ARE READING! YOU ARE READING!” She was giggling and laughing and we both were grinning from ear to ear! “Yes, she said. May I borrow a book from the center and bring it home to read to my Granny tonight?”

 So Salome and I went back into the big room and she picked out a book. I put her on the bar of my bicycle and rode her to her house. She hopped off and ran straight into the house without looking back, the book clutched in her hand. 

This is why I am in Namibia.  Each and every one of you is invited to come here and to witness this outpouring of love. At times when I feel there is no hope, God gently touches my heart. I welcome you to come here and to experience it all with your own eyes, and with your own heart. You will be transformed and touched forever.

 Come, come, come. We await you with open hearts and open arms.

Thank you all for your love and support. Thank you for your donations that allow me to live here and to be with these children. Thank you for sending over story books, soccer gear and uniforms, educational toys and games, and everything else you have gathered up and shipped over. Thank you for your financial donations so I can buy food and medicine for them, so that I can run a soccer program and treat them to lunch at the pool. Thank you for supporting projects which give milk to babies of HIV positive mothers, which provide bicycle ambulances in rural areas, playgrounds for kindergartens, wells for orphanages, and the list is endless. Everything you give, out of your hard work and sacrifices, goes right to the people. I see the rewards of your generosity. Sometimes my eyes are closed, but on days like today, my eyes are open.

 With love and sincere gratitude,

Xoxoxoxoxoxxo

MaryBeth

 PS There is a magnificent organization founded by my friend Nicole,

specifically to support worthy projects in African countries! 
Check it out!!! 
Just click on: http://www.neia-ev.de/English/index_eng.htm