Taking care of the vulnerable

In the heart of Windhoek’s informal settlements, a children’s early childhood centre owned by Lucia Hamukoto is providing care and learning opportunities to at least 38 children of domestic and low income earners.
The United Hope Dynamic for Development Pre-primary and Day care centre is a shack but nonetheless acts as a haven for the children who energetically chase each other around.
Now and then, the centre receives maize meal and macaroni parcels from the Life Change Centre which was opened by the Dutch Reformed church in 2001 to help restore the lives of marginalised people in society. The centre has been providing regular meals to the elderly and the youth, while also donating to early childhood development centres and soup kitchens at various schools around the capital.
While parents are at work, Lucia and her assistant Rosa, ensure that their children are looked after, and receive care that parents are unable to provide. The centre houses children as young as three year olds, but there are no beds for toddlers to sleep during nap time, so the centre uses thin mattresses and blankets. Although the two ladies refuse to allow limitations to stop them from taking care of the young, the centre is grappling to provide what the children need. Using second hand chairs and tables which she funded herself, Lucia says that the number of children are growing and she does not have enough resources to help all of them. She says that she does not want to stop helping the children because they depend on her.
Rosa, her assistant has no formal qualifications but Lucia is teaching her the basics from courses she has attended. She has a Remedial Teachers Training, Basic Counselling Skills qualification as well as Bereavement and Children Counselling certificate from Hope Initiatives Namibia (HISA).
She also has a certificate from the Council of Churches and offers bible lessons to the neighbours and children. Lucia is from the Otumba village in Ohangwena Region. She arrived in Windhoek some years back just with the clothes on her back. Through friends she found a job at a kindergarten: working as a cook in the kitchen. The school teachers asked her to step in from time to time to help with bible lessons and the children grew fond of her. There she started praying and offering guidance to the young children and their parents.
She took them to church; they opened up and shared their daily problems with her. “One girl came to me crying and said that her parents drank so much that it bothered and embarrassed her. I visited the parents and prayed with them.”
Not only is the warm hearted lady a community mother, she also has a son of her own. “He is now in grade 12 and aspires to be an IT technician one day. Lucia is also a guardian to four other children who were placed in her care by her family members. “I’m raising all of them the best way I can. I’m unemployed but complaining will not help me,” she says.
The school will accept assistance of all types, including volunteering and donations. “Most of the children do not come with food; they don’t have a snack for snack time. I have to cook mahangu during lunch to get them through the day.”
Among the greatest needs are volunteers to either work at the centre or sponsor a child for the kids monthly school fees which are a paltry N$50 per month because some of the parents are unable to pay the monthly fee.
The centre also needs nappies, wet wipes, baby powder, sanitary creams, second-hand clothing, first aid supplies, cutlery, food stationary for arts and crafts, and donations for a fence so that the children stay within the premises and do not roam the streets.
“Charity is needed in our community. It can mean a donation, or time, even a service. But it also costs as little as a smile; in essence, all it is, is an act of kindness towards someone in need. And there are so many people in need here in Windhoek and elsewhere: on the streets and in old-age homes. There is so much to do and fix and it starts with us,” says Helena “Elle” Kandjumbwa who has developed a close bond with Lucia and the children.
The two met when Helena was volunteering at the kindergarten were Lucia was working. “She spoke to me about the school and the dreams she has for the children. It touched me profoundly and I decided to help as much as I can. I bring the children food and I am working towards getting funds for her to build a proper structure to teach and care for the younger ones. This is a commitment I have made to her and myself,” she says. Helena is a second-year paralegal studies student at the University of Namibia and a model United Nations programme facilitator and trainer.
Those interested in helping the centre can call Helena at 0814422402.

Limba Mupetami