LUNCH WITH THE ORPHANS

On Saturday, I got the chance to eat lunch with the orphans! They are a delightful group of children from 4 to 14 years old. Many of them walk a long distance from the villages for a free meal on Saturdays at the church. The children hear a Bible story and play games before eating. I'm amazed how all the children wash their own plates when finished, even the little ones.

Some of the children have been infected with HIV since birth and their parents are now deceased. They take medication on a daily basis. The problem comes when their guardians fail to remind the children to take the medication or fail to attend to their needs, like regular meals. One girl collapsed in a village and her guardian was too drunk to help get her to the hospital. Finally, others in the village helped to get a car, and she's doing better now. The statistics say that 1 in 4 people in Namibia have HIV/AIDS. It's the children who suffer the most!

A School Day At Liberty Heritage

I'm sure you're wondering what school is like in Namibia. Well, it's not that much different than school in America, except for a few things. Beginning about 3:00 AM, the rooster next door begins his wake-up call, even though I don't need to get out of bed until 5:00. Meme Laina picks me up in the car at 6:30 and it's amazing how many people are out and about, already starting their day.


The teachers have devotions beginning at 7:00 AM and school starts at 7:30. On Monday mornings we have devotions in the church with everyone. The other days we have devotions by class. The children work in their Paces, which are the books for the ACE program. They also have a class in Afrikaans and go to Computers twice a week. By the way, we have an awesome Computer Lab this year of 10 computers, thanks to the donation of 5 computers from NedBank! I think this is the favorite class of most of the children.

On our first break from 9:45 to 10:00, most of the children eat all their food and save little for the 12:00 break. Maybe they don't eat breakfast, or they're just hungry! Anyway, Grade 1 gets out of school at 1:00 and Grades 2-7 get out at 1:45 with some staying behind until 3:00 for extra help. If you're wondering why they get out so early, then come to Namibia and sit in a classroom with 90 degree heat and no AC. I'd love for you to come visit anyway! We can always use an extra pair of hands, even if it's only for a few weeks.



Fridays are an unusual day! We only do academics for about 2 hours and then we have fun! We have Life Skills Class and Elective Classes which include Art, Drama, Dance, Computers, Painting, Science and Sewing. Currently, we are training for our Sport's Day which will include a trip to the University of Namibia stadium. We have 3 teams - red, yellow and blue - and they compete in such events as high jump, long jump, shot put, discuss and running events. Last year the yellow team won, but I'm hoping my red team will win this year!

I hope you get a sense of what I do here every day. Oh yeah, this year I'm the Grade 3 teacher with 28 students and also the co-principal with Meme Laina! There's not a lot of down time!

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