Ever since my childhood days of watching Blue Peter Appeals on TV I have wanted to be involved in one myself - so here we have devoted the February newsletter primarily to telling you about our own appeal here in Namibia!

The Orumana SCHOOL Mattress Appeal

As some of you may remember from the November newsletter, we were invited to visit a nearby school by a Peace Corps volunteer whom we had met at Thanksgiving. Luke has now left, but we were so touched by the need of these kids that we have now returned several times to the school to visit. From some of the emails we have had from supporters back home, we realise we were not the only ones moved to see whether there was something practical that could be done to help these children. Several people have offered money to help pay for mattresses - so here we have the “Orumana mattress appeal”.

On our most recent trip we made an appointment to meet with the Headmaster Mr Munenge, and the Matron who oversees the school hostel. Our conversations with them only served to confirm the great need that these kids have. According to Mr Munenge the school has not had water for 9 years since their borehole ran dry. The school are allowed, periodically, to tap water from the community bore hole - but this is far from regular. According to Matron the children go for weeks without washing themselves or their clothes, and since the toilets do not flush, you can imagine what is happening ... Skin diseases such as scabies are rife, and diarrhoeal diseases are not uncommon. There is barely enough water for the kitchens to cook for the 500 children who rely on the meals provided by the school. It has been known for the school to close for a few days and the kids sent to their home villages to bring back water for the kitchens.

Our involvement will, we hope, be in two ways. James has started writing a proposal to suggest ways to provide water to the school. Thankfully there is another borehole quite close to the school grounds (which supplied the now disused hospital site) that he is hoping can be rehabilitated. We also hope that, by raising some financial support, we can buy enough mattresses to pay for each child to sleep on something a little more comfortable and warmer than a concrete floor or metal frame. We have checked out a few places for quotes for foam mattresses, and have sourced a store near Windhoek which could provide them 500 mattresses at a total cost of approximately £5800 pounds including transportation.

We really hope to raise the money before the winter here kicks in and if you would like to help us by donating to the “Orumana Mattress Appeal”, please contact my parents at the address below.
Meanwhile life back in Opuwo since the accident continues at a hectic pace. We really do appreciate everyone’s prayers and words of encouragement for us through that difficult time. Our return to Opuwo was greeted with warm hugs and even tears of relief in some cases, that God had looked after us and brought us back safely. We were reminded how quickly we had become members of this small community and how much we were valued. We felt, once again, blessed for our being here.

Work at the hospital becomes busier and busier, despite the torrential rains we have had, people keep coming. We had a small leprosy outbreak in a rural community which, from a western background, was exciting to be directly clinically involved in. I begin training my “Traditional Birth Attendants” at the beginning of March. There is plenty of preparation which needs to go into running this, but I am looking forward to the prospect of what differences can be made to the care of pregnant mums and what we can achieve as a community.

I also had my first taste of teaching! I was asked to present a practical workshop on first aid care in the community. The group I was teaching were young girls who had volunteered as first aid workers in very rural parts of the Kunene Region where there was no access to a health clinic or hospital. The practical session on making splints and CPR were a hit as was the power point presentation with snippets from the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” as an introduction. For this I can take no credit but thank my husband for his skills on the computer!

As I mentioned earlier, James is focusing on writing the proposal for Orumana school, and we really pray that this will have a positive and fruitful impact on the community. He is already trying to find some donors or agencies that could take the proposal and make it happen, if the Ministry of Education is not able to raise the funds themselves.

James’ work here in Opuwo so far has been hampered by politics, which has been so frustrating when the need for clean, safe drinking water here is very apparent. However, he has also been able to help out the Council in some of their smaller projects – approving buildings for construction and assisting in the oversight of the construction of a new Craft and Cultural Centre.
There has been plenty of rain since the middle of January; a record 400mm in a month. Normally we have two rainy seasons; October / November and February / March, but there have been no rains at all until January. This has resulted in the farmers seeing up to 30% of their cattle starve to death over the last few months. The impact of this on the families here in the Kunene Region who are mainly cattle farmers, has been devastating. Not a day goes by without a malnourished child in the clinic or a mum begging for food for her children.

So it has been a blessing to see the rains finally arrive, although with the rains come malaria and snake bites! Namibia has some of the most poisonous snakes in the world (mambas, cobras - which I have had the pleasure of seeing brought into hospital in a supermarket bag!) but unfortunately the hospital has already run out of anti-venom and the prospect of sourcing more is very slim!

So having now been here for six months, we are starting to reflect on the time we have had and look forward to what we can do in our remaining time here. It has been pretty tough at times – between some disappointments with work, the car accident, and even living in such a remote location, but we are starting to feel really at home in the community and are beginning to see ways in which we can have an positive and lasting effect on the people around us.

We feel that one of these opportunities is through the help we can give to the children at the school and we really hope you will be encouraged to be involved with us in the Orumana Mattress Appeal.

Prayer requests and Thanks:

• Thank God for our speedy recovery and safe return to Opuwo after the accident
• Thank God for the rain which has been so needed by the farmers here in Opuwo
• Thank God for the opportunity to help the kids at Orumana School in such a practical way and pray that we are able to raise the money in time to get the mattress to the kids before winter.
• Pray that the proposal James is writing for the school would be met with funding!Pray that God would continue to help us to serve the community effectively

Thanks,

James and Helen

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