Ministry partners

Joan’s preschool ministry in this community is pretty much amazing. She helps train and support around 30 private preschool teachers who have no formal education, but a heart for helping these kids. They can quite resourcefully use household garbage (like used tea bags, egg shells, bottle caps, grocery bags, etc.) and turn it into activities that involve every developmental area of a child. Their students have been recognized for their significant advancement over the other grade one students who did not attend preschool. But above all her mission is to share Jesus Christ with every one of these kids. With the disastrous state of education in Namibia, this is a bright spot permeating the hopelessness.

I got to meet a few of those teachers this morning and see the small shacks most of them have built next to their homes to house the schools. I also got to meet Kuarna. She heads up the Community Center in Vyf Rand, a squatter’s camp on the outskirts of Okahandja. They house two of the preschools, but also have after school programs and a soup kitchen for orphans and vulnerable children. Everyday they serve meat and rice, or some equivalent, to upwards of 170 kids who may not see another meal that day. They’re all children who are staying with relatives because their parents have died. But even though relatives take them in, there’s no additional support provided for them. More mouths to feed, but no greater household income. This soup kitchen, and others like it, helps supplement this need.