Primary school children - January 2012

Anna: Anna is not only still taking care of Nico, but also of all of the other kids in school. She is really a young woman now and is taking more and more responsibility in school. She helped to organise the graduation in November, as well as the Christmas party at the beginning of December, which she very much enjoyed!

Betha: Betha could not wait for the holidays to start to go down to Gobabis and visit her extended family there. She actually found a high school there which she is going to attend this year. She will still come back to Naankuse to visit her family here during her holidays, and might come back to Windhoek next year as she missed her family, but now she misses her friends!

Bettie: Bettie has very easily passed to grade 3 and we are all very proud of her hard work. She received a diploma at school for outstanding work in Environmental Studies and also a certificate from her class teacher for her neat work and showing so much respect towards the teachers and learners. This is a great achievement for a Bushman child as these children usually struggle to achieve these results. Many Bushman parents are either unable to afford to send their children to school or the children have been rejected by schools due to learning or physical disabilities.

Chrisjan: Chrisjan is due to start grade 3 in January, as he passed grade 2 and even obtained a diploma for outstanding work in Environmental studies. He was lucky enough to get his parents to go with him the day of the graduation, and they were of course very proud to see how their son is doing so well with an opportunity that they never had. Sadly, fewer than 1 in 5 Bushman children attend primary school, and this is very much the first generation to be able to have this chance.

Dina Asmes: Dina struggled a bit in her first year of mainstream school. It is always a bit difficult for the children to adjust from their save environment at Naankuse to the big mainstream school in the city. With the extra effort she has been putting in and the support of both her family and teacher giving her extra attention, support and lessons during the weekends, she has been able to make it through to grade 2. Well done, Dina, we are very proud of you!

Dina Pikiro: Dina’s teacher called us in early December to tell us what a lovely child Dina is and how much she enjoys working with her. Her work is always very neat and she is a great example for the rest of the kids. We are very happy that our Bushman children are doing so well, we believe every child deserves the right to education. Dina will be starting in grade 2 in January.

Josephina: Josephina was lucky because she got to spend her holidays at Naankuse, but all her family came to visit! She got very good grades during the last term, including an 86% in Home Ecology. She also excelled in Afrikaans and English. This year she can choose from many courses that are offered, from hairdressing, to secretary as well as hospitality or a course to be a pre-school teacher. Our teacher Hilma of courses hopes that she will choose this last one!

Kanna: Kanna took over as the baby sitter for all the children during the holidays. We had no idea that besides his goat and sheep, he has a passion for kids, and he played with them during every single free minute he had. The kids loved him for this, as during the holidays they do sometimes get bored and tend to miss school. Thank you Kanna for doing such a beautiful job!

Maria: Maria struggled a little bit during 2011 and although we tried to give her all the support and help she needed, she did not make it into the next grade. This is not the end of the world though, it is already a great achievements for these children to be in school, and she understands and has promised to work very hard this year to make it through to the next grade. Maria is still confident in herself and we will keep up with all the support and encouragements that she needs.

Martha and Betha

Martha: As always Martha has worked so hard throughout the year and she has made both us and her family happy. Her teachers love her, and Martha received a Diploma at school for outstanding work shown in Afrikaans as a first language, English as a second language and Environmental Studies. She has done so well that now she will move over to Eros Girls School, a special school where she can choose to do a course of her choice such as hairdressing, secretarial, pre-school teacher, hospitality and many more.

Sofia: Sofia did very well last year in school and has been promoted to the next class. She did particularly well in Home Ecology and Typing, and now has to choose the vocational course she would like to do. Sofia will go back to living at the hostel in Windhoek during the week, and her friend Martha will now go with her this year. She has promised that she will take good care of her and make her feel at home!

Willemina: Making both us and her family very happy and proud, Willemina has worked very hard throughout the year and will now start grade 2. She loves going to school and surprisingly she loves Maths more than anything in this world. She has obtained a Diploma for outstanding work in Mathematics. Who knows, maybe in the future she will be one of Namibia’s most successful engineers?