Here is the refurbished farm house of the original owner of the land now called Five Rand Informal Settlement ( or squatter's camp) Today the house is used as a community meeting place and as a place for vulnerable children to be fed once a day.
Here is the youth/community center we built in the middle of the camp. We are so grateful to all the donors that made this possible!
There is a large meeting room, small kitchen, library/computer room, jewelry making room, and pottery studio.
We have to keep the kiln "in jail" so no children get hurt.
Lucia painting Okawa beads
giving a beading class in the main hall
A favorite of the kids: Our wadding pool. One child even said he was lucky to live in Five Rand Camp because: "We have a pool !!"
Believe me when it's in the upper 90's I wish I was one of the kids !
We call it "THE BEAD ROOM" Here we put together kits, so the ladies can work at home, or they can also work here. They like to come and use the bead spinners, as it makes the job of stringing go much faster.
Outside the center it's not so pretty. Behind one corner is a dump.
But this is what drives us crazy ! A "million" extension cords (leads for you Brits) run past our center to homes beyond. In front of our building is the last power pole, and so residents buy power from neighbors in front of us, and our power is not always enough to run our kiln, and there are nightly power outages at dinner time.
1 comment:
Thanks for this fascinating look at your world in Namibia--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Did I mention the absolute beauty and joy too?! Your life there seems so rich!
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