OKONJIMA and AfriCat support Education!
Namibian Street Children meet AfriCat's Orphans
OKONJIMA and The AfriCat Foundation played host to a group of wonderful, enthusiastic Namibian Children. The children spent a weekend on OKONJIMA learning about environmental education; - they loved every minute! They all come from a Center in Windhoek, called the After School Centre who does amazing work.
Background about the After School Center:
The After School Center is a government initiative towards strengthening the social well being of Namibian Children. The After School Center specifically focuses on disadvantaged children, street children and children from economically challenged families and communities in Windhoek. The After School Center is a direct plight of the street children of Namibia. The Chinese government donated the funds for the construction of the building. This project was under the auspices of by then the ministry of Local Government and Housing but now under the ministry of Gender Equality and Child welfare.
What the center offers:
The After School Center has the capacity to cater for up to five hundred children between the ages of six to fourteen years old on a daily basis:
- Children who have single working parents and have no one to take care of them after school
- Children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds of which families live under overcrowded circumstances with no facilities for the children to play or learn extra curricular activities.
- Children who hail from smaller towns, e.g Gobabis, Otjiwarongo, Luderitz, Oshakati, Keetmanshoop and Rundu in search of greener pastures in the capital. These children found on the street are temporary accommodated at the shelter and provided with three meals a day, and the basic necessities until the return of their families and regions.
- The center also assists the Ministry of Basic Education in providing classrooms for grade eights who are unable to find a place.
 Dax Frieke – Okonjima Guide, taking the children on the Bushman Trail |
 Learning how to set the "humane & environmentally friendly" bird traps |
 Learning how to make rope from the very popular "Mother In-law’s Tongue" |
 Learning how to make rope from the very popular "Mother In-law’s Tongue" |
A STROKE OF GOODWILL
OKONJIMA LODGE and THE AFRICAT FOUNDATION recently hosted a weeklong ‘International Artists Workshop’ in the tranquil surroundings of their newly constructed Luxury Bush Villa.
Privacy and peace was required for the 8 Australian artists and 2 Namibians, lead by the renowned ‘Pete Marshall’, who has for many years been a keen supporter of AfriCat’s wildlife conservation and rehabilitation programmes for Namibia’s big cats.
Marshall, a former veterinary surgeon, photographer & artist, won the highest awards at the Wildlife Artists Society of Australasia Exhibitions in 2001 & 2003. She lead a group of aspiring artists to OKONJIMA to show them that the world is there to understand and preserve, to help and protect for future generations – to bring the beauty of wildlife and the fragility of the environment to the public view through her paintings.
Marshall and her group were joined by two invited, local aspiring Namibian artists; ‘Dennis Shinyaama’ from Windhoek and ‘Silke Berens’ from Swakopmund.
Dennis is a man of many talents, including featuring on two released CD’s as a rapper with Pablo as well as with Boetie Oshitenda. He plans to release his own album by the end of this year. Dennis is so passionate about art that he has started his own home- based tattoo parlour and teaches local kids about various art forms after school.
Silke has held two exhibitions in Namibia with the Association of Visual Arts, and hopes to get local artists exposed to their own country through such workshops.
From their experience at OKONJIMA, Dennis has befriended Silke and they both now want to train at Silke’s Studio in Swakopmund using the knowledge they have gained from Pete Marshall.
Dennis will soon be gaining more information and technique for his tattoo passion from one of the Australian artists, Simon King. Simon has his own tattoo studio Down Under and joined this workshop on OKONJIMA to learn more about the cats, as he says they are one of the most desired subjects for tattoos. Simon sees that Namibia has few tattoo parlours, so will be helping Dennis to eventually have a comprehensive parlour.
OKONJIMA LODGE and THE AFRICAT FOUNDATION were proud to offer the opportunity to support local artists to join the hospitable and educational team of Australian artists, who were equally as grateful for the experience.
Written by: Brendan O’Sullivan
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For more information about the artist Pete Marshall, please visit her site at: www.ecoart.com.au
Thank-u's from Dennis & Silke
Dear Donna and Tristan; and of course the other members of the Hanssen family we didn’t get to meet...
A word of immense appreciation from the both of us for enabling our stay at Okonjima with the Pete Marshal group: We definitely profited artistically from the expert tutelage of Pete, and on top of that enjoyed ourselves immensely learning about A multitude of nature and wildlife related topics, least of all being the Africat project which is impressive in its scope, and proven success!
The level of professionalism and most of all creativity, in your set-up at Okonjima is hard to find elsewhere in Namibia. And perhaps even further afield, although neither one of us is well-traveled enough to judge that accurately?! Suffice it to say, we have had a far-reaching experience, and cherish many positive, profound impressions both emotionally and culturally.
Warm thank-you’s also to Roma and Clive, who made us feel like part of the “family” and looked after us so well, and to Mush and Dax for memorable and exciting ‘Okonjima’ experiences. Clive of course deserves special mention for the adrenalin adventure of a lifetime, and for his unsurpassed people and driving skills!! We hope they have a fantastic wedding celebration, and wish them happiness galore.
Thank you, too, to Yolandi who performed miracles in organizing all the really tricky details, and the rest of the very friendly and efficient Okonjima staff. We hope that we can spend time at this special place again sometime in the future, and wish you tireless creativity in conservation for the future.
With Gratitude Silke Berens and Dennis ’Dingalo’ Shinyaama
Silke can be contacted at: realworld@iway.na