17.03.2011 - Funding for Havana Soup Kitchen

As a project of BET-OSYAN (Basic Education and Training for Out of School Youth and Adults in Namibia), the Havana Soup Kitchen opened its doors in June 2010 with the main aim to assist orphans and vulnerable children. With a little assistance from Pallium e.V. (Giessen – Germany), the project manager, Mrs Frieda Kemuiko, erected a small house in Havana from where she could provide approximately 40 children from the Havana settlement with a daily meal. A little later, in her capacity as treasurer and co-ordinator of the Havana Soup Kitchen, Mrs Gaby Voigts of Farm Voigtland, facilitated the contact with the German Embassy and supervised the much needed renovations for which the German Embassy agreed to allocate N$ 80 000,00 out of its 2010 micro project fund. These included a new roof structure, a storage room and a shaded playground/veranda which was levelled out to make it more child-friendly.

Besides the daily meals, the children also receive pre-primary education to prepare them for an easy access to Grade 1. It is also planned to enhance the chances of better living conditions for the parents by teaching them income-generating activities like soap production, bread baking, sewing etc.

Dr. Romeo Bertolini, Councellor for Development Cooperation at the German Embassy, also handed over a consignment of toys and clothes as well as greetings and messages from 21 children of the "Kinderladen Dottendorf" in Bonn, Germany. Through his family's initiative, the children of the Kinderladen, were inspired by the idea of a partnership between the two pre-primary facilities and each donated a few of their toys and some clothes for shipment to the Havana Soup Kitchen in Namibia.