During the last 20 days we have been in Children’s Town in Costa do Sol, Mozambique. Many things have happened during this time. We had Christmas celebration, New Year’s celebration and a Peace Boat visit.
I will tell you more about our time here and about Children’s Town itself…

Children's Town has almost 40 children from 8 to 18 years old who live there. Most of them are orphans. In Children’s Town there is a school for the Children’s Town kids and also for the children from the community around. The school is from 1st to 7th grade.

The 24th of December was supposed to be a Christmas celebration but electricity was down due to the little bit of rain that was falling… So we had to reschedule to the 25th but we couldn’t spend the evening without something happening. So all the kids came to our “home”, occupied our beds and sat down watching a movie has it was the most wonderful thing in the world.

The next day the Christmas preparations started in the afternoon: Christmas lights, Christmas tree, balloons etc. After dinner the programme started! There were plenty of presentations. Some of the kids made dances, others were singing, others were presenting poetry. It was a wonderful evening…  After the presentations came the Christmas gifts: they received new shoes, new clothes and toys for them to play with. And the music was on and they danced (and they do know how to dance!!!).

The New Year’s celebration was more or less the same. There were many presentations, dances, songs and lots of music. At midnight the kids had what they love the most in New Year’ evening: rockets and to see fireworks.
There was a visit from a Japanese group of people who were making a cruise in a ship called the Peace Boat. It is the 3rd year that different people come to visit Cidadela and then the next day the children go to visit the ship. The day the people from the ship came to visit Children’s Town there were dance presentations and we were showing the guests around. We had a lovely lunch and we spent the afternoon outside, under the trees, making origami with the guests, learning how to write our names in Japanese, playing volleyball and doing traditional Japanese games. The kids loved it!

The next day we went to visit the ship. It had 11 floors, we were able to see the restaurants, the different areas of the ship and the most interesting: the bridge. The captain of the ship is a Swedish man, a very humble person who loves kids. He told a little bit of his story. He never had training to be a captain and he started very young working on a ship in Sweden. He started working in the kitchen as a helper of the cook and gradually he went up and up and up in what he did in the ship until after some years he became the captain. It was very nice to hear his story because we could see that some of the kids came back saying they wanted to be Captain of a ship when they grow older. If Anders (the Captain) could so they can. We spent a good afternoon on  the Peace Boat.

It is very hard to describe how things are here in Children's Town. The life is very simple and the smiles are constant.
The electricity comes and goes as the wind blows… and there is no internet access.
Every day we had to carry water because there is no tap water in Children’s Town. To have a shower we had 5 liters of water per person and used a bucket and a cup, we lived as they live! We boiled the drinking water and when it was raining we collected rain water so we could wash our clothes and have more water for showers and toilet. When it rained the kids love it and took showers outside as if this was a wonderful gift. They made a party out of it.

We spent our days playing with the kids, we gave some English lessons, we taught some of them to ride a bicycle, we played basketball and other games with them, we helped in the kitchen and we let them watch movies (one of their favorites).

But we went to Children’s Town not to teach, but to learn. The kids have stories that are breathtaking, they did not have easy or lucky paths but they look at things with hope and positivity. They have a smile on their face after all they have been through and they are open minded and openhearted young people.
They are each other’s family and they treat each other as brothers and sisters:  they have fights as brothers and sisters do and they defend each other as a family does.

These kids are really special and they left a very big mark in our hearts. Their simplicity and their open minds and hearts are a very big lesson for any person who meets them!

Children are the future and if the children are strong and have good principles – the future is bright!

Article by Mel, teacher of FWTP 24-months Team February 2016

See Mel's profile here >>

Today we spoke with one of our good friends, Boyd Basuti, who is an entrepreneur, drama director and leader of a youth artistic group in Phikwe, Botswana.
He and another friend from Phikwe were telling us about the safety situation in Botswana.

Botswana is one of the safest countries in southern Africa. The firearms are mainly allowed only for the military; even the police uses guns very rarely. And even though there is no armed police, the crime rates are really low.
Boyd explains that it's because of the culture of the people – when they hear shots, the first reaction of everybody is to gather and to find out what is going on, not to run away from the shooting. The same goes about unattended bags – the people will try to find the owner, not to immediately call pyrotechnics, as it is common in Europe.
People in Botswana are not terrified by any bomb or terrorist attack.

Quite recently, in 1999, there was a conflict between Namibia and Botswana, about who owns the Sedudu island on the Chobe River.
The situation was tense, an armed conflict was about to start.
Then the government of Botswana applied to Namibia to go to the court instead of fighting.
Botswana then was proved as the owner of the island – peacefully.

According to the words of our friend, Botswana sometimes acts as a "peacemaker" in conflicts of the neighbouring countries.

Our observations proved the situation in Botswana to be as safe as our friends say.
Everybody on the streets were asking if we would need any help, the security guys always warned us if an area wasn't too safe in the night.
We didn't encounter any racial or religious tension. – On the contrary, although the most of the Botswana's people are passionate Christians, even the shops in small towns have notices if the food is or isn't halal (and so can be used by Muslims, who are about 1% in Botswana).
So far away from the criticism and xenophobia of Europe!

In the case of personal safety and security Botswana is much more well-developed than many of Western countries.

People here live by the phrase, coined by one of the Botswana's presidents:

"The word of your mouth is your most powerful weapon. Use it."

Article by Pavel Kostelei, 24-months team Fighting with the poor.

See Team's profile here >>

It took us 49 hours to arrive to DAPP school in Outapi from Johannesburg. Now, 8 days later, we depart from Oshakati, in a 2 days travel to Botswana.
It was not a long time but it was enough to have strong impressions and some conclusions for our “Woman and Children conditions and status” investigation.
Here in the North we could see a bit of the Namibian reality. We saw the colors of the country, the smiles, the open arms and also the poverty, the sad side of all, the darkness.
It is a quite desert area, here in the North but there’s plenty of donkeys, cows and goats on every corner! There are plenty of dogs and cats too. Many mosquitos and funny bugs are part of the normal life.

The gap between rich and poor is extraordinary! The biggest I’ve ever seen!

Rich Namibian have a better house I ever had, lots of money, live in a fancy way, shop in a crazy way…

Middle class almost does not exist and the lowest class is really low! Really poor!

The Poorest people live in “metal” houses (made of metal sheets) where it’s so hot I cannot describe how they can live there. No windows most of the time and it’s a small little place for all the family!. A normal family has between 7 to 10 kids and usually they have 2 meals per day. Very few kids go to school. School fees are paid for all grades! This means it is impossible for a family with 10 kids to put them in school and if they have to decide if it’s a boy or a girl going to school will be the boy going. Women start to have kids around 17 years old, getting married when they’re 23 and usually marriage is arranged (lower class).
Most of woman drink during the day, in places called “Location”, come back before dinner and make food for their husband, who was working during the day. The man after that will go to “Location” and drink! Woman can have small businesses, selling necklaces or bracelets for example. They start to be part of Woman’s Clubs and Assossiations. But who still makes the decisions is the men (this is in poor areas, in the lower classes… The higher class and cities already have woman in government and is more developed – woman get married for love for example and not by some arrangement by the family as in the poorest class).

The people are lucky if they have electricity! Or a latrine for the family because usually it is shared with more people from the houses around.
Water is the biggest problem! Water is quite precious here in the North of Namibia and most of the time, not to say always, is not drinkable! It is quite brown and tastes funny. That means nothing to locals. We Europeans boil the water or make it go through different processes to purify it as much as possible, or simple buy big bottles of it. Locals - drink it as it is or, if they can afford, buy coke (same price as water)! There are many deseases due to this lack of water, lack of hygiene and the many many mosquitos! In the North, from Oshakati up (Omusati region) it really barely rains and it is super desert areas! Access to water really seems impossible sometimes, no river exists. The only resource of water is the Channel who comes from a river in Angola and goes until Oshakati. It is around 150 miles of channel and it is the only source of water for hundreds of small villages and towns! It might look impossible, but it is true! If by any disagreement Angola decides to cut the Water from their River to this channel I guess many would die and villages disappear. The repercussions would be immeasurable!

This reality does not pass on TV, it’s not shown on newspapers or talked about! It is a very harsh reality and to see it looks surreal. You feel quite powerless and useless…. It hurts and it makes you feel lucky when you open a tap and have running water!
You just do what you can! The little you can with the few you have. You share your knowledge, about anything and everything, little things can make a difference. You give your smile and you make the kids laugh. You really need to stimulate their creativity, only then things will improve!

We visited several HPP project, spoke with locals, and project leaders… the results are quite amazing when you understand the surrounding reality!!!
The DAPP Kindergarten graduation was very touching, Kindergarten kids who know how to speak in English and write quite well (very rare for so young kids, usually they learn English later being the local language their first language). The music was present of course, and religion too, some songs from the church were sung in the Kindergaten graduation.
The DAPP Vocational school works hard and productively, Building and learning practical skills in a different kind of school. We helped in a practical action of making the roof for a new classroom.
The POF school is in a very very veeeryyy high level! The 20 female students were actively studying until late hours of the evening for the exams that will start in the end of this week! Very recently and mostly thanks to a former CICD DI, who is now POF headmaster – Mila – POF was Credited, being in the same level of the Namibian National University. A Huge step! Many partnerships are happening and it has been developing quite fast in the last 8 months. Lots of hard work but the results are quite visible!
TCE project in Namibia is working in 9 regions of the country. TCE has tested and also counseling 58.200 people in 2015 for HIV. 343.250 people have been screened for TB between 2014 and 2016. There are no words for this numbers, it’s really good, many health officers, doctors and hospitals are involved in this.
The Farmers Club (which started 1 year and a half go) has 85% of their participants being woman – a very positive and unexpected result and success. The project is funded by EU.

These are some of the results of our projects, it is wonderful to see and it gives a lot of hope! Many people and in several areas are working to change the Namibia reality. It is quite hard to move from the lower class but different efforts are being made! If we think of Apartheid in Namibia and Independence was just 26 years ago things are moving in a good rhythm, traditions start to change in the bigger villages, cities are quite developed. Small steps mean a lot and they are being taken.
We leave with the knowledge of a different reality. We know things are not ok in the country, a lot has to be done but we know and have seen there are forces working for the development and a brighter future!!

                                                                                                                                                         6.12.2016
                                                                                                                                                                  Mel