Last item for the year

Metaha

The year came to an end and different games were played with the kids to enoy the last day of the club for the year 2011. Two VSO volunteers joined the club and played some games with the children. The children had an opportunity to say what they enjoyed the most from the club activities during the year. They mentioned computer classes, sport and reading as the top 3 activities they enjoyed the most. We agreed to make a soccer and netball team next year and 4 children were nominated as team leaders for the sport groups.
The VSO volunteers promised to support the club next year by training more youth that should assist the club. This will be an opportunity to divide the club according to age groups to make it more manageable.

In conclusion, a Red Cross board member addressed the children on the importance of attending the club so that they can gain information and skills through the games.

It is time for the 3 year old boy to enjoy his apple.

Each child is trying to get the apple from the backet with the mouth

Lining up for refreshment after the long day of playing games

The children have to balance the ball with their arms from the one end to another.

The children got a plate with brochens and a sausage. The local shops donated food for a value of N$150.

Baby Hope with Alison, the Peace Corp volunteer. Hope will remained the center of the kids club for the year 2011!

Uharee nawa

Kakarandua

Series of activities

Florence and her sister visit Blaundina and baby Hope

A child writes in his journal

The children show their birthday cards that they all made. So when someone has a birthday, they will be able to have a handmade birthday card made by one of their peers.

Some children playing soccer, a favorite sport of theirs.

Some children playing jump rope

Baby Hope












Some of the Omapititor Weyuva class volunteers












The children playing an outdoor game

Mrs Mutambo having a discussion with the girls

Some time past and several activities took place but could not be put on the blog due to the technology that failed the team. From now, the blog will be published every Wednesday. Let me just give you update on different activities that happened during this period.

Florence visit

Florence Ahlborne, a lady who is assisting the Omapitiroweyuva kids club and her sister, visited Opuwo in August. She met some of the kids at a church service where they welcomed her with a choir. They visited 2 volunteers at their homes and one teenage daughter that had to drop out of school due to pregnancy. She gave psychosocial support the daughter and one of the volunteer who just lost her child. The other volunteer whom she visited was Blaundina and her little Hope, who was 2 months by then. Florence gave bracelets to the children and these gift was very much appreciated.

Watching movies

The town of Opuwo experienced wind during the month of October and the children were forced to watch movies for 2 consecutive Fridays. Due to the large number of the attendance at the club, a movie does not require much space for movements as everyone will sit quiet and concentrates at the big screen.

Journals

It was time to make sure that every journal in the shelf has an owner and everyone has a journal. Some of the children left the club due to different reasons like changing of schools while some are not interested anymore. In the contrary, a large number of children joined the club this year and are really enjoying every Friday. It made them very much proud to have a journal of their own.

Uharee nawa

Kakarandua

Pictures

Metaha/Good day

Find the pictures for the end of term post.

Children are supporting each other with the bicycle riding because the majority do not know how to ride.

Girls are gaining confidence on the double sit bicycle; only the 1 in the front sit know how to ride.

This group is having fun with puzzles while waiting for their turn with the bicycle

Please find more pictures and videos at the right side of the blog. If you read these posts, please let us know.

Uharee nawa/Cheers

Kakarandua

End of term

Metaha

Last Friday was the last day for the second school term and children came in big numbers. The bicycle shop provided 3 bicycles for the children to learn how to ride. Two bicycles were used by the older children and a small one for the younger children. The children who know how to ride a bike were teaching those who don' know. Sometimes pushing the bike and telling the one who is ridding to look forward was the only way to teach. For many children it was the first time to ride a bike and focus was therefore a challenge.
While some were riding, the rest of the children were playing games. It was a lot of fun but also frightening for some children who never got a chance to ride a bike. Volunteers made sure that most of the children got a chance to ride. We realized that we should do more of this lessons until everyone knows.This Friday was the last day for the classes for this term and the children will go for the school holiday.

The computer where the pictures are saved is currently experiencing problems with connection to the internet and the pictures cannot be published with this posts. You will definitely see the picture in the next blog.

Uharee nawa/Cheers

Kakarandua

Shoe box gifts

Metaha

64 children received gifts which were packed in a shoe box. In each box, there were items such as shampoo, toothpaste, tooth brush, pens, different pencils, some note books, toys and games. Each box was different from the other as it was given by individual children. These gifts were facilitated by a friend in Outjo, Wilma Schoeman, who got them from Netherlands. Early this year, Wilma requested for a list of children to get the donation, therefore only children who were in the club last year received the gifts two weeks ago.

The children who got games in their boxes were requested to donate them to the whole group. These games are kept at the office for everyone to play with. Last Friday, the children sat inside the office yard and chose games they wanted to play with; which varied from different puzzles, cards, dominoes, skipping robes, balls etc. Some games could be played by one person while others could be played in different group sizes.

Each child took part in different games as he or she wished.

It is real joy to watch children playing and enjoying themselves that much as we could see them jumping up and down with smiles on their faces.

The Omapitiro Weyuva club is extending its gratitude to the children in Netherlands who donated the shoe boxes, Wilma Schoeman and everyone who facilitated this process for the gifts to reach our club.

The twins are happy to receive their boxes

The puzzle brought these two so close to each other as they are constructing a car (toy)

The games encouraged the children to built team work among themselves.

Another group enjoying the card's game

Under the tree, assisted by a volunteer who illustrated some of the difficult games.

Uharee nawa/ Cheers for now

Kakarandua

Nemo, the lost fish

Metaha/Good day

The children watched a movie about Nemo, a fish that was lost and eventually found. After they watched the movie, they were asked questions to test their understanding of the movie and how they could relate the story to the things that happened in their lives.

The children enjoyed the movie very much and could follow the story and answer the questions. To the question whether they ever had lost something valuable they mentioned to have lost siblings, pets ect. They started to tell stories of their own and how they struggled to find what was lost.

Watching movies is one of the activities the children enjoy the most.

Group pictures of the children that watched the movie

Uharee nawa/Cheers

Kakarandua

The winners for Etosha trip

Metaha/Good day

Every child got a chance to read his letter about the trip to Etosha which they wrote last Friday about why they wanted to go on the trip. The aim was to select the five best letters according to the children's ages and grades. After every child read his letter, everyone took part in judging the presentations.

Here is a letter of one of the 5 winners, quoted as written:

"Why do you want to go to Etosha?

- because I want to explore different types of animals

- we also want to know in which group they belong either mammals, vertebrate or non vertebrate

- we also want to know their names so that if one day we see it at our village we will remember it

- we also want to see where they are kept as many as they are

If you were a giraffe and you are in Etosha what will you do?

-' I will be sad for the first time and the next day I will start playing with my friend.'

This letter was written by a grade 8 daughter.

We hope to undertake the trip to Etosha in the coming school holiday depending on the availability of funds.

Cheers for now/ Uharee nawa

Kakarandua

The five children that won the Etosha trip

Competition for Etosha tour

Metaha/Good day

Dear friends, let me inform you that 15 children will visit Etosha game park during August/September school holiday. 5 Children from the 3 districts will be chosen to visit the game park. From the Omapitiro Weyuva kids club, children wrote articles to compete for this tour. Last Friday, they were given different topics to choose from, such as: Imagining a life of an animal in the park; what would you do if you were that animal; what would do if you were an animal trainer and different other questions related to the game life. The best articles will be chosen next Friday and all the children will take part in the selection of the best 5 articles.

Writing articles to win the trip to Etosha.

Playing outside is always great fun!

Uharee nawa/Cheers

Kakarandua

Games

Metaha/Good day

The children came in big numbers last Friday and played different games in the office yard.

Cat and Mouse

In this game children stood in a circle while holding their hands. One kid played as a mouse and another one as a cat. The mouse went through the holes of the circle while the cat is chasing him going through the same hole as the mouse did. If the mouse reach the place where he was standing, he won.

Human knot

Children were holding hands with two different people. In this game, after every hand is held, every person turns around while keeping the knot tight. This was a tough one for them.

Green light, Red light

Children stood at a distance while a volunteer was standing in an opposite point. When the volunteer lifted up a green object, children run towards the volunteer. If he lifted up the red object they stopped. This game was played in two groups with one of younger children and one of older children.

It was great fun and it was amazing watching the children how they seriously took part and enjoyed the games.

The mouse is making sure that she is safe

Reaching the end point after the green object has been lifted was a big achievement

The older children suddenly stopped by the red light

The human knot. The young ones making sure that they hold hands with two different people

Uharee nawa/Nice day

Kakarandua

Little Hope

Metaha

Blaundina, the volunteer that is assisting with the Omapitiro Weyuva club got a baby girl. She needed medical attention though after she went beyond her delivery date and had to go to Outjo, 400km from Opuwo. In Outjo, she was assisted by a friend, Wilma, to get attention as soon as possible. She was admitted the same day and gave birth to little Hope in the early hours of the next day 21^st June 2011. Wilma and Maria assisted her so much and gave her baby clothes and blankets which they collected from their friends. This was a group effort from friends who contributed assistance in different forms such as accommodation, clothing , food and transport.

Blaundina and little Hope eventually came back to Opuwo and were welcomed by Red Cross staff and family members. Children at the Omapitiro Weyuva club made congratulation cards for them.

Uharee nawa

Kakarandua

Blaundina and little Hope.

Smiling already!

Red Cross Staff visited Blaundina and Hope

7 days old Hope is ready to meet the world!

What is more wonderful than the happiness of a new born baby!

Uharee nawa/Cheers for now

Kakarandua

Congratulations Blaundina

Metaha

The children were very excited to hear the news that Blaundina gave birth to baby Hope. They made cards to congratulate her and to welcome little Hope. They got into groups to discuss and to design the cards. They were provided with scissors, glue, coloured paper and coloured pencils which they used to make the cards.

A group from South Africa donated hats for the winter and every child that came for the Friday club, got one. The children also made thank you cards to show their appreciation for the donation.

To motivate them to come for the class despite the absence of refreshments, the children were informed what activities will be done before December, including a pool party and a trip to Epupa Falls.

Finally everyone proudly showed off their cards in the picture. A group photo was then taken before they went home.

Uharee nawa

Proudly posting for the picture

Neatly designed card, done by a group of girls

The little boy was lucky to do something for someone on his first day to attend the club. He joined the club last Friday for the first time after he came with his mom to look for assistance.

Group photo with cards and hats

Drama

Metaha

On Friday the youth participated in a creative writing assignment and drama that focused on non-verbal communication. They divided into four groups, with each group having a different question. They discussed situations such as, “What if there was an elephant chasing you?” or “What if your hair grew 30 centimeters every day?”. They then brainstormed what they would do and how they would react if given this situation. After brainstorming, they were told to act it out in front of the other groups. However, they couldn’t talk while acting out their drama, which definitely made it a little bit more difficult.

After seeing all of the groups’ skits, we went outside to enjoy the fresh air and played a few outdoor games such as Simon Says and freeze tag.

The youth definitely enjoyed that!

A group planning for the performance

In action demonstrating an elephant chasing someone

Playing soccer outside the office

Uharee nawa

Kakarandua

African Child Day

Metaha/ Good day

The 16th of June is an African Child Day commemorated throughout the continent every year. The day is meant to commemorate and advocate for the rights of the child for education, health as well as the whole wellbeing of the child. This day has its origin back in 1976 in Soweto, Johannesburg in South Africa. For some schools, children are commemorating the day by performing different activities. In some schools, children will enjoy this day as a normal holiday where they will spend time at home with family. The last scenario was the case with some schools in Opuwo. They had school on the 16th and was given a holiday on the Friday, 17th June.
The right of children to have quality education is well said but many children are still constraint by many issues and cannot enjoy this right. The situation of the children of the Omapitiro Weyuva are classified under those which are not privelleged and therefore limited by different challenges. Lack of money to pay school fees, proper clothing, lack of toiletries and chronic illnesses for some of the children are some of the problems that unabling children to enjoy their rights.
Any donation in terms of clothing, cash to pay school fees and to buy entertainment facilities will make a difference.
I will extent my thanks to everyone who supported a child anywhere and those who contributed to the Omapitiro Weyuva kids club. Your contributions are making a difference in the chilfren lives of the children.















Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Rundu, singing outside the Rundu Red Cross office

Bye for now

Uharee nawa
Kakarandua

Harvesting

Metaha

The children went to the garden to assist with the harvesting of maize. They were divided in groups with a supervisor in each group. The grouping was to organize them so that they can work better as they had limited time. They worked for almost 2 hours before they were taken back to school. They were involved in the cultivation and weeding and now in the harvesting! This gave them a sense of ownership and they enjoyed themselves while getting the job done.

One of the older boys selecting the good maize.

A community member assisting with harvesting.

The maize will be put on top of this structure to dry. Blaundina' father visited her and came to her rescue by constructing this structure. The maize will be put on top of it to get dry.

Maize, maize, maize.

Old and young participating in the harvest.

Uharee nawa

Kakarandua