Day 3: An Emotional Day

This morning we headed for Okahandja in order to visit the Hope for Mothers project overthere, do two home visits and see Ileni Tulikwafeni, where orphans and vulnerable children get fed, measured and weighed. This day turned out to become quite an emotional experience.

A warm welcome, what the Namibian people stand out in, waited us at the Mothers for Hope project, which involved beautifully dressed ladies, singing and even presents. We met Daisy who manages the projects and who showed us around Okahandja afterwards.

Daisy introduced us to the little baby Ndayilikana and her mother at the first home visit. The 15 year old mother was raped by her stepfather, fall pregnant and got infected with HIV. Thanks to the programme Ndayilikana, tiny and sick when she joined in May 2010, got admitted to the hospital, grew and het condition is satisfactory. She lives with her mother and grandmother and 4 other kids in a shack in squatter camp. The grandmother is taking care of them, altough she in unemployed, selling liquor and meat. Stepfather is in jail and luckily Ndayilikana's mother went back to school.

Our second home visit was broken off immediately after getting in the shack. The family (baby Nstene, her mother and grandmother) had been attacked overnight. We found a very old an sick woman on the floor who was not able to tell us what had happened. The rest of the family seemed to have gone to the police station. Daisy sent for help for the sick lady. Unfortunately we don't have any information about the recent conditions.

Next (still shocked about what we just saw) we went to see the ± 500 children at Ileni Tulikwafeni. It is far beyond imagination to see so much poorness in quanitity as well as quality together. Of course our visit started with singing and dancing. Immediately some of the kids curled up to us, hungry for physical contact. We witnessed how they all get their daily lunch: washing hands first, small kids first, older ones at last. After lunch we painted their faces, a few seconds of attention per child, which is nothing, but seems everything at the same time. We handed out fruits and candy, an enormous treat for them. We left them fed with happily painted faces, but poor, dirty and unhealthy. A lot of help is needed at Ileni Tulikwafeni.