Pops for Namibia

From left: Betty Owen, Judy Dunbar, Helge Mercker, Diane Mawson, Terry Adler

On behalf of the Kindergarten class and their Grade 7 Buddies at Canyon Heights Elementary School I would like to thank Helge (from CSN) for her inspiring and informational slide presentation on Oct. 18, 2018.  The slides she showed gave us a close look at the San people and culture that we couldn’t have gained in any other way. With Helge’s prompting the students realized that the profit from the sale of one popsicle, $1.00 CAD, feeds ten Kindergarten students two meals a day in Drimiposis.

We were pleased to present a cheque for six hundred dollars to the CSNS members present, Terry, Judy, Betty and Helge. The money was raised by selling Fruit popsicles in September.  Our students are inspired to share the information about Drimiopsis with the rest of the school and to continue their fundraising efforts for CSNS.

Diane Mawson,

Kindergarten Teacher,

Canyon Heights Elementary School,

North Vancouver, BC

Children at Canyon Heights Presentation

Freedom Through Service - A New Board Member's Perspective

The CSNS Board: (From Left) Betty Owen, Treasurer; Ellen Besso, Vice-President; Terry Adler, President; Diane Mawson, Board Member at Large; Judy Dunbar, Secretary; (Front) Helge Mercker, CSNS Agent & CSNS & Children’s Sanctuary Namibia Board Member

Many years ago in Ontario, I was treated by a Naturopath-Chiropractor, a divorced, middle aged man, father of two. This quirky, opinionated man fell in love with a beautiful young woman and together they had a baby, to the amazement of everyone who knew him.  One day Richard told me that he had found freedom through commitment to his new wife and babe, a concept foreign to me at the time.

Yesterday morning I opened Sharon McErlane’s newsletter from The Great Council of Grandmothers, (netoflight.org), entitled What Service Will Do For You. “Service is freedom and service brings freedom,” the Grandmothers said. “Loving service is powerful.  “Connecting with others in the light”, they go on to say, our limitations begin to melt and our energy shifts.

Western volunteers we met in India echoed our sentiments, that we all get back much more than we give to the Tibetans we help in Dharamshala. The same goes for our work with displaced Tibetans and Syrian refugees here at home, and now my volunteer work with the newly founded Canadian Children’s Sanctuary Namibia Society.

Recently we held our first AGM followed by a General Meeting and were privileged to have Helge, our Namibian Agent, and a member of both the Canadian and Namibian Boards, with us. Though my energy was flagging near the end of an intense day, Helge immediately riveted my attention when she began speaking about her experiences in Drimiopsis, the settlement where the orphaned and at risk San children subsist in neglect and poverty.

I have observed abject poverty on my Indian travels and have become inured to it to a degree, in order to continue visiting that country. However Helge managed to paint a visceral picture of the lives of the children and teachers in the Drimiopsis settlement, one that penetrated my privileged, safe, white Canadian mentality.

Listening to this gentle, spiritual white woman speak lovingly about her work with the children opened my heart and moved me deeply. Helge spoke about how she slowly, over a number of years, encouraged and helped the teachers and other supporters of the San people, re-settled in Drimiopsis, Namibia in 1991, to begin rebuilding their community, starting with food and water security, education for children and employment opportunities for adults.

Helge happily reported that the CSN Board and key community members have made great strides by taking ownership of development efforts by starting the brick building project that to date has produced 12,000 bricks, working with a volunteer architect to design the first Sanctuary building and hiring a security guard to safeguard the supplies needed for both the building and the protective fencing for the site.

I am proud to have the opportunity to offer my service and skills to this community as a member of our dedicated CSNS team.

Love & Light

Ellen

News from Namibia - Your Donations in Action

New Kindergarten Building

Pastor Jeremiah & Lydia

CSN took on the stewardship of the Sanveld Kindergarten from its earliest stages, helping orphaned and vulnerable children in Drimiopsis. In July, the Kindergarten moved to a much-needed new building, built by the church of Pastor Jeremiah and Lydia Molestane, teachers at the school, on land donated for this purpose. While simple in design, the new building is beautiful with colourful cartoon animal art on its white exterior.

“CSN is joyed by this new development and by the responses of the students, Pastor Jeremiah says. “You should see the smiles on the children’s faces when they heard that they are now going to that place forever. They were so happy!”

CSN continues to provide food and other supplies to support the 44 students in attendance. From January to June of this year four trips were made to the town of Gobabis, 42 kilometres away, to purchase food for the Kindergarten class. The children each receive two nourishing meals per school day, cooked over an open fire by volunteers. 

CSN has applied to the Ministry of Rural Water Supply for permission to begin drilling on the borehole for the sanctuary land and awaits approval to start this project. In the meantime, CSN has begun making bricks to build a security and storage building, to secure the supplies for the bore hole and for future dwellings on the sanctuary land.

A CSN sponsored first building will be built in the coming months and Jeremiah, Chief Ita and Gideon, all CSN representatives, are meeting with the architect to plan the project. Pastor Jeremiah and his team have been working hard producing bricks, for a total of 12,000 bricks now! CSN is very pleased that these projects provide work opportunities in the local community.

Pops for Namibia

When Kindergarten teacher Diane Mawson heard about CSNS and the Sandveld Kindergarten children in Drimiopsis, Namibia, she was instantly drawn to learn more. She felt inspired to reach out to the teachers there, Jeremiah and Lydia Moletsane, to launch a “buddy class” with her Kindergarten class in North Vancouver, BC. As “buddy classes” they would learn about each others’ culture and about one another. Jeremiah and Lydia greeted Diane’s request with great enthusiasm and so began a new, exciting relationship between cross-cultural kindergarten classes.

Diane’s students were very keen to share the words and actions of their alphabet song with their new buddies, so they videotaped their performance and sent it to Namibia. Their new friends were excited to receive a new and different alphabet song.

The Canadian class decided to involve their Grade 7 buddies so they could also learn about Namibia. Inspired by what they were learning, the K-7 buddies decided to hold popsicle sales to raise funds for the Sandveld Kindergarten’s food program. And so “Pops for Namibia” was born!

Mr. Simm’s Grade Sevens assumed a leadership role in the project, helping their younger buddies create posters for the events, present the “Pops for Namibia” project at a school assembly, and sell popsicles at outdoor stations during recess. This successful project raised $1,138.82 for the Sandveld Kindergarten class!!

At a school assembly, two of Diane’s kindergarten students presented a giant cheque to CSNS Board member Judy Dunbar, a former teacher at the school. Judy was thrilled by the efforts of these caring students.

Inspired by her student’s enthusiastic efforts and by their new knowledge, Diane is looking forward to continuing to build the relationship with their Sandveld buddies in the upcoming school year. Language has not presented any barriers, as English is the common language in both locations. The challenges of unreliable wifi connections and different school vacation times are easily overcome by the love bonds being forged between these remarkable students on both sides of the ocean.

House Concert Fundraiser at Jeanne & Al's Home

House Concert Fundraiser for CSNS

The Love embodied by Helge Mercker finds a beautiful expression in the help she provides to orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa, tirelessly working through Children’s Sanctuary Namibia (CSN) to provide food security for the children of the Drimiopsis Resettlement camp in Eastern Namibia.

On April 8th, Al and Jeanne Fike hosted a House Concert Fundraiser for Children’s Sanctuary Namibia Society, (CSNS), the newly established Canadian sister organization to CSN), in their beautiful Gibsons home. The concert, featuring soulful music by Jill Shatford and colleagues, was a joyful event attended by 45 people.

The afternoon included a silent auction of items donated by local supporters, and the sale of angel pins lovingly created by Sabine Wink-Tudor, our friend in Germany.

The $2556 raised will be used to feed children in the Kindergarten program and to dig a well to supply the envisioned Sanctuary that will house the children.

If your soul invites you to put your Love into action, please visit our Take Action page for information about how you can contribute.