Namibian life and internships

I’ve now been in Namibia and it is truly beautiful! I tend to get up early in the morning and either run or walk around just to see the beauty of this place. It’s been pretty darn hot, around 80-90 degrees during the day, which is hard to fathom considering it’s snowy in Cincinnati and Valpo these days!

SO yesterday was my first day with my internship! I’ll be working with Vision Life, which is an organization run out of a home. Aunty Clara, an incredible woman is in charge of Vision Life, and even after just spending a day with her yesterday, I realize she will teach me so much. Clara has a heart for her community and is all about meeting the needs of the community. A few years ago, she and her husband started making more affordable uniforms for children in the area (since uniforms, which are required for all children to go to school, can be a financial deterrent from education). Within the last 6 months, she has opened her home to about 10 children under the age of 6 who come during the day (from about 8am until 6pm) to have a safe place to stay since they are too young for school. Many of the children are orphans, so without Clara’s intervention, they’d be spending time with other family members, many of whom are struggling themselves with unemployment, poverty, illness (especially HIV), and other living pains.

Within 30 minutes of arriving at Clara’s house, she left me with the children because she had to run some errands. I was to attempt to teach these energized kiddies things like numbers, shapes, and the like. Now, I’ve worked at camp for the last 2 summers, so I’d identify myself as someone who loves kids, yet I did find such a young age group a bit out of my comfort zone! I’m sure that as time passes, I’ll learn effective was to interact with these children, because they certainly are adorable! (even when it’s “nap time” and they are all running around the room!)

Clara also opens her home to many older children who are orphaned. Part of my internship will also be helping these students with their homework. Clara said that she has about 20 people living at her house, and I’m pretty sure that only one of the teens living with her is her own child!

Aunty Clara is an inspiration and a giver to her community. She expressed feelings of exhaustion (as I can only begin to imagine), but her spirit is strong and her love for those whom she is serving is evident! I look forward to growing with her and those she serves.

One interesting thing: I’m pretty sure that Aunty Clara receives no funding for any of the services she provides. She and her husband to earn money through making the uniforms, but her work with the children is completed funded out of her own pocket. I hope to brainstorm some with Clara about ways to receive funding, because her resources for her “pre-school” are pretty limited.

This will truly be an incredible experience, and I’ll be sure to share more stories as they come!

But one quick moment: As soon as I exited our kambi (the 15- passenger vans that we are transported in with the program), 3 of the kids run up and hugged me. What a beautiful example of love and joy from these children!

Oh, I plan to go camping this weekend, so get excited for some fun animal stories early next week :)

Peace and love from Namibia!!!