Last summer a friend of mine visited Namibia on a mission trip. She worked with the children there, in several schools. She came back and shared many stories with our KEY Club.
She told of children from poverty stricken families, who for many, will eat their only meal, at school for lunch. A meal called mealy-pap... their version of cream of wheat... This meal was cooked in a large, cut-off oil drum over the fire.
Many (not all) of the primary schools (kindergarten) are made up of wooden pallets and/or a corrugated metal called zinc, and any other materials they can pull together. These materials are nailed together to shade the children from the sun but do very little to ward off the heat or protect them from rain. When it does rain, the children pull their pictures and posters off of the wall and stand in the middle of the room where it is more dry.
One particular story she told was of a mother who sold her 7 year old daughter into prostitution for money... When the teacher found out. She went and "stole" the little girl from the brothel she was being kept in... The little girl is now much happier living with a foster family. Oh, did I mention... this little girl is deaf.
Now, it is necessary to mention that not all schools are made out of wooden pallets and zinc. There are some very nice private schools available to the children of Namibia. However, these schools are costly and... "despite the government efforts to have every Namibian child enrolled in primary school, parents do often not afford to send their children to school - opting for them to assist in chores at home" (
namibiansun.com).
Unfortunately, with young children unable to attend kindergarten, because of cost, they struggle adjusting to primary school. Because of their limited educational background the children have a hard time learning the materials taught to them.
Students in Action!
The KEY Club students decided to run a series of fund raisers to send money to some of the teachers in Namibia to buy better classroom supplies and educational toys. This will help the children learn more and ensure a better future for each one of them. The children will have the education to get a job in the city and earn more money throughout their lives and support their families.
Helping the young, can promote the future.
TOYS TO TEACH A GENERATION
So far the KEY Club has held several bake sales and earned over $100 to send to Namibia. This would be roughly 925 Dollars Namibian, but to put it into perspective, a bottle of water in Namibia costs roughly 12 Dollars Namibian much like our bottles of water cost $1 -ish.
These bracelets are another fundraiser the students have planned. Each bracelet is made up of two colors. One cord (red, white, or blue) to represent the United States and one cord (blue, red, green, yellow or white) to represent the children of Namibia.
The knot in the middle is to symbolize that we are united and working together. The back of each bracelet has slip knots to adjust the size. Bracelets are multiple sizes as well, to fit different sized wrists.
We will be bringing these Para-cord bracelets to our District Convention at the beginning of April and selling them for $2. We are hoping for much success. When we return from convention we will have more bracelets to sell. Please let me know if you are interested in supporting our cause.
