Police Visit OVC

One thing I was really hoping to achieve while here in Mwandi was to break down the barriers between the OVC kids, staff and the Police. Having worked with the Police while here, it became very clear to me why kids would fear these Police – I can only say it is unlike any policing I have ever seen at home! The Police are quite busy so it did take longer than I had hoped for them to come to OVC, but today they did and their visit was a HUGE success!
Sergeant Musumo attended a group counselling lesson with me and I wasn’t surprised that the kids were a little frightened at first! What intrigued me more however was that Musumo appeared a little frightened too! But once he got going he delivered an amazing lesson on being of good character and I was surprised he had never done this before. I tried to not act surprised as he justified to the kids why they may see them beat some people, but this is their culture so I suppose it is an important issue to discuss. We discussed honesty, commitment to education, career choices and the new friendship and trust they have with their police. I was so impressed and feel great to have been part of this. At the end of the session I presented Musumo with a gift from SA Police, the hats, which he could part with as gifts to his new friends. The kids absolutely loved it and despite having different career choices from Policing, all agreed to be Police for the day!
The staff of OVC were also very excited by the success and I really hope this is a relationship that can continue. Enjoy the pics – especially my fellow colleagues who helped put things together for me to bring.
Cheers :-)

Over-night trip to Namibia

After spending 4 weeks in Mwandi my roomy & I thought a trip across the border would be a nice break... was it ever! Sesheke is the next `main’ township about 60km west of Mwandi. We caught a shared taxi to get there which costs about $3AU – shared taxi meaning it’s a small sedan with six adults, one baby, a tub of fish in the boot and various other supplies... no dramas that the car bottoms out on pot-holes, it’s all part of the journey! Every taxi I have caught here is running on empty too... maybe these cars are built to run off petrol fumes?!
From Sesheke you can walk to the border so we walked over the bridge then through Zambia and Namibia customs... Wow, what a difference. I accepted the sight of poverty in Zambia as just being Africa until now – It seems hardly fair that on one side they have nice cars, civilised shops and services then immediately on the other its cows towing carts, barefoot children and accommodations offering cold and warm water (What the?!). So we could see right away that we were in for a treat – and the lodge on the banks of the Zambezi where we stayed was precisely this! We treated ourselves to a river cruise which got us even closer to the hippos we had been watching for the afternoon, did our shopping the next day in Katima then headed home. We really wanted to get on a truck or the back of a Ute for the ride back but there weren’t any going to Mwandi! Never mind, we shared another taxi with a couple of Mwandi elderly men who spoke good English... apparently I speak English very well for someone from Australia – must be all those English classes I took before coming!!
A couple of photos for you – A hippo on the river cruise and the bridge walk to the boarder crossing.
Back in Mwandi until just Sunday now and far out has this time flown! The police have been quite busy and one of them has been posted else-where... so just two men for all of Mwandi now. We have arranged for OVC visit this Friday to make up for last week so hopefully they will not be busy this time! It will be a great way to finish up at the project so all going well, I will have more photos from the project and the Police visit on Saturday.

OVC School Sponsorship Part II

Here are a few more photos from the Mwandi School for those interested in the OVC School Sponsorship Program. More sponsors for these kids are needed!

The Feeding Program

Here are some pictures from the Feeding program... I am so proud of all my friends and family back home who helped raise all that money that we gave to this program – hopefully you can see how grateful and happy these kids are that they have a place to go where there health and nutritional needs are met.
Currently there are 250 Orphans & Vulnerable children enrolled in the feeding program. Ages range from 6 months to 15 years and 25% of these kids, are HIV positive. All these kids each receive a large well balanced meal 6 days a week and their height and weight are monitored. Those who are most needy will receive additional vitamin or protein supplements.
Feeding time is pretty crazy – they come from the village or from school in their break. After feeding it is devotions then reading time. I have been so lucky with the time I have spent here and the friendships I’ve formed... only one week left here and I know I will taking much more than these photos home with me.

OVC Watchman Training

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned the time I am spending with the Watchman employed by OVC to guard OVC and the house here during the night... Well if not I must! On Thursday afternoon on the banks of the Zambezi (which is my front yard!) the 5 watchman eagerly attend my `training’ sessions. As `security officers’ for the project they have never undertaken any training what-so-ever. I started my first session by asking what they do if they catch someone on the premises with a reply of, “We don’t know”. Yet they each carry a .22 calibre rifle and a carry bag with baseball bats and batons – Right?! It’s ok though, I have clarified with them that the rifle is for crocodile’s if they trespass on the premises – Fair enough! Again, these blokes are incredibly polite and my time with them has been really fun... and SO entertaining! IMOST (operational safety) training with SAPol does tend to bore me each year, but am grateful for it now because being able to share my training with the OVC Watchman has been priceless... I hope the pictures help to explain why! Next week is going to be my last week with them and as a laugh I’ve taught them some marching too (Oh square-gating hilarious!) to conclude their training with a `graduation’. I will present them with a Police Badge (as we do) which I know will make their day... hard to explain but for people that have never seen anything but Mwandi, this stuff is REALLY exciting!!
Today I have the Police visiting OVC which is great – I am really looking forward to it as it was building this relationship between Police and OVC that I was hoping to achieve while here... so stay tuned!

Child Sponsorship in Mwandi

Definitely the highlight to my week was my time with Mushabati, the boy that I have sponsored for 2 years now. He is 14 years old and the eldest of 3 sisters and 3 brothers. They all live in a mud hut with their mother, who was left a widow a few years ago when her husband, a fisherman, died from HIV.

After school on Tuesday Mushabati met me at OVC, where his siblings visit for feeding, and took me to his house. His English was not great, but he was quite excited I could tell and we had some laughs and small chat on the way. He was caring for his youngest sister who would have been only a year or so old.

I spent a few hours with him and his mother – I was worried that he might have to leave school to help care for his siblings but thank God seriously, for the OVC Project with takes care of this! I guess this is where you really see that the project has helped; Mushabati was a part of the feeding program while younger and it is through good health and nutrition that kept him at school. The sponsorship program then kicks in, which funds their education. I told his mother that I will continue to sponsor him throughout all his basic school, secondary and college if he wishes to follow his dream and be a doctor – though English was limited, I did sense an overwhelming sense of appreciation from her which was so nice I couldn’t even describe. To top things off I gave him some gifts from SAPol’s Blue-light/ community programs donations (thank you Port Augusta Police!) and it was a Christmas this boy had never had! I can’t wait to hand out the police hats and the Police visit to OVC later this week!

There are still plenty of children that need sponsorship to go to School. Being here now I can’t explain how important this is – perhaps just imagine if your own child was left playing in the dirt because you didn’t have enough money to send them? I dropped into the school on Friday with another Volunteer here while we took photos of kids for their sponsors, and you can feel the appreciation. They know what we are doing and what it means so please consider sponsoring one of these kids. I will post more photos of the school next week as Mushabati has welcomed me to visit his class which I know already will be another amazing experience.

Current Sponsorship Prices: Mwandi Basic School (Grade 1-7) $70US

Mwandi Basic School (Grade 8-9) $130US

Secondary School (Sesheke) $370US

Only children demonstrating suitability for Secondary/college education are offered sponsorship.

Please email uczovc@gmail.com for a sponsorship brochure or contact me when I get home! (Or post comment with your email for me to organise personally while I am here...)

Other than that, working with the Police has been interesting to say the least, time with the staff at OVC has been great and I took my first Sunday School Class ever! I’ve also been doing some training with the watchmen which has been hilarious! I will post another blog later in the week with photos for that! Spending time with the kids at OVC is the most heart-warming experience and being already half-way through my stay here, I know its going to be very hard to leave...

While I can take and OK snap I’m not sure of how good a writer I am… I’ll do my best to describe this place in ways that pictures alone can’t.

The place is peaceful, welcoming and incredibly loving… like no place I’ve ever been and I’m sure I’ve already tried to say this. But as beautiful as it is, there certainly are moments where your breath is just taken away, reality hits, and all of a sudden the illness and suffering that is so prevalent through this village smacks you in the face.

After strolling through the village on Saturday afternoon I sat down on a shop step with my roomy and new friend, Lou. We were having a drink and playing with some young girls that were having fun with our cameras. This lady walked up to me and just stood there right in front of me. I asked if she wanted her photo, with a simple `hmm’ and a pose, I then took her picture. With such pride to look well I noticed she was even wearing makeup to cover her paleness but she was terribly thin and quite obviously very ill. I’m not sure if awkward is the word, but there was certainly something uncomfortable about taking this photo – nevertheless, I took it and showed her – she found the strength to give me a tiny smile of appreciation, then her frail body wandered off.

I can only guess what this woman was thinking; and my guess is that she is very ill, she doesn’t have long left, and having an opportunity to see an image of herself with her son who will soon be an orphan, was there. I’m not sure what more to add to this but that’s the story behind this picture anyway.

More Photos of Village

Taking photos in Mwandi

Click on image to make LARGER

The Project, Police & Village Part II

Write up follows images that were supposed to upload with it... Enjoy :-)

The Project, Police & Village

Well I've settled into Mwandi very nicely! It is an incredible place and I'm still in awe of the people and how welcome I feel. I have my schedule full and I couldn't think of any other way I'd rather be spending my time right now.

The Project

Following my warm welcome last week I started with the staff and counselors this week. They hold a Symposium for the staff of the project each Wednesday, in which I am the `teacher' every week while I am here. This week I spoke about abuse, in which I explained our mandatory reporting laws, types of abuse, ways to identify victims and acting on and treating the abuse. This was really well received and gave the staff a sense of feeling important within their role. They asked relevant questions and helped with discussion which was great, these people are generally quite shy but I got the feeling of genuine interest in my experience and how they can benefit. So this was a huge success and I'm looking forward to the next one already, alcohol and drug abuse.

My other role at OVC is working with Giblet and Mutanta (in photo), the Counselors here. There is a counseling house (photo) built specific for this within the project and it has been set up really well. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons I join their counseling sessions and this week has mainly been just observing, so I can join in from next week. They do one on one counseling for children that need it but these sessions are more like small group social studies type info sessions. It is a really good time to approach topics that are of concern and so far we've had fighting and today was drug abuse. Again they ask for me to lead the future sessions so they can learn more teaching techniques from me, but really, I was pretty impressed by how they are running them already – just a bit more input from the children with questions, discussion etc to really see that they are understanding what they are teaching is all I'd like to show them. Mind you, this is all in Lozi! Giblet and Mutanta translate for me but it's really not as difficult as you'd think.

In spare time around the project I've helped out at feeding time (crazy!!), reading after, and just hanging out in the yard getting to know the kids – They are amazing! I am so blessed to be able to experience all this I just wish everyone at home could see this. I also had the most amazing day on Tuesday, when I met the Mushabati, the child I have sponsored for two years! He was quite shy but excited as well, his mother and siblings also gathered around me… truly awesome. Next week I'm going to his house and I hope to spend some more time with him which will be sensational...

To finish my update on the project here are just a couple of pictures I took today.

The Police

On Monday and Thursday mornings I report to the Police Tree for duty! Yep, the office is a tree at the moment but these fellows are lovely. There is Inspector Itwe, Constable Dakar, Constable Masumo and Criminal Investigation Constable Pardon. There should be a forth constable but he passed away last year and has not been replaced. On Monday we were met by a few people sitting on the ground to discuss occurrences from the weekend. I was bit bothered by the lady who had been beaten, whose face was bloodied and swollen but could not receive medical treatment until she had a note from police authorizing treatment (what?). These notes are on scrap paper but considered official. There was an Uncle who'd had an argument with his nephew, nephew broke some wooden structure, Uncle had this bundled and tied with reeds to present as evidence and Constable Dakar had the patience to discuss their matter for about two hours! Inspector Itwe issued a `Call-out' notice to one man who requested it – I liked this idea; This man was having trouble with another, Police write a Call-out, like a Summons, and man takes Call-out to other man. This person must present to police so the matter can be discussed before they "fight or kill each other', as Itwe says… failure to come to police gets you 3 months jail so compliance with a call-out is very good! They don't really like smoking here either; smoking in public will get you 6 months in the clink. The police already have a very good relationship with the community, even with informants that work for them – kind of neighborhood watch like concept. Police were not permanent in Mwandi until 2006 and since then they have reduced crime greatly – Ikwe was very proud to say they have recovered 72 stock since 2006 as cross boarder stock theft from Namibia and Zimbabwe was a big problem.

I was hoping to get Police involved at OVC while here, and just today Inspector Itwe accepted my invitation from Giblet to attend OVC which is fantastic. So I'll be working on putting together a few good sessions to improve relations between police and OVC which will hopefully continue when I leave…

The Village

What a wonderful piece of the earth this is! For some reason I didn't picture myself walking around freely within the village and meeting all the locals, but they are just so friendly and welcoming it's incredible. Kids come running from a mile off to pinky-shake (means be my friend) and adults stop and shake your hand at every corner, every house. They are getting to know me now so it's a pleasant hello, but still hold hands and ask how your day is. Being on the Zambezi river they catch plenty of fish and I've already been offered a ride in a canoe one day. They love the camera which is great because I just love taking photos! It's going to be very had to choose which ones to post here as I already have so many… I hope you enjoy what I can add just now. Thanks again for your support and for those that have contributed to this project I hope you are enjoying this journey as well.