News from Namibia

Friday 20th January 2012

NCCV Christmas in Katatura

Thanks to kind donations we were able to make Christmas special for our children and families in Katatura.  Approximately 50 children received goody bags with small toys and sweets.  

All our families received substantial food parcels which meant that none of our children were hungry on Christmas day.  The food parcels were made possible by one donation of £250 from a friend of NCCV.

Thank you everyone – once again you made a difference and put smiles onto small faces    
Diane Mills

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Saturday 6th November 2011

The building starts!!!

October saw the beginning of building in a very small way on our NCCV plot. Zeb, a local man from Katatura, has begun to build a small hut for himself to live in and guard the plot. He will also oversee the brick making project when we begin next year.

Zeb was recommended to us by Tate Hipandurua - he needed somewhere to live and we needed someone on our plot.
Diane Mills

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Monday 31st October 2011

Fund raising is FUN!!

The pictures prove it.....David Orr and his friends has a fantastic time at his Halloween party and managed to raise £200 for NCCV.

David, an ex VSO volunteer who worked in Namibia, is now a social worker in Edinburgh - children are very dear to his heart. He knows of the poor living conditions and how some of the children in Namibia suffer every day.  Thanks to people like David, who not only care but do something about it, we are slowly raising the money for our Katatura Childrens Centre in Opuwo.  We still have a long way to go.

Please consider this when you're making plans for Christmas celebrations- you can also raise money for our children. People are happy to give - they just want you to tell them how.  Every little helps.

THANK YOU David and to all friends of NCCV for your support.
Diane Mills

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Thursday 22nd September 2011

Angus completes Triathlon in 1 hour 46minutes (including a tyre change)!!!

Fantastic news that Angus completed the Triathlon in 1 hour and 46 minutes. Angus writes "The event went well for me I did it in 1 Hour 46 minutes which is better than my target of 2 hours, it would have been quicker but for getting and repairing a puncture on the bike."

Angus also raised in total £150 for NCCV (including a generous personal donation).
Stuart Lee

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Angus Brummitt-Brown

Sunday 19th September 2011

NCCV Cyclist comes 4th!!!

Erwin Jonker, VSO volunteer and Occupational Therapist at Opuwo Hospital came 4th in the 35km bike race around Spitzkoppe Mountain. Money is starting to come in from sponsors. We will let you know the grand total when we have the info. Well done Erwin and thanks to all the other people who sponsored and helped NCCV.
Stuart Lee

Sunday 4th September 2011

Sponsors needed for NCCV Cyclist

This is Erwin Jonker, VSO volunteer and Occupational Therapist at Opuwo Hospital. A super cyclist who will take part in a 35km bike race next weekend around Spitzkoppe Mountain, to raise funds for NCCV.

Erwin comes from the Netherlands where he's used to cycling in flat, cold and wet conditions. Next Saturday he will be one of 200 participants who take to the mountain tracks to race their way ...around Spitzkoppe - the terrain is very arduous, challenging and rocky, with steep up-hill climbs and dangerous downhill paths. Temperatures can be as high as 40 degrees at this time of year.
Diane Mills

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Erwin Jonker		Spitzkoppe		Spitzkoppe		Spitzkoppe

Tuesday 23rd August 2011

Food and toy donations reach Katatura!

You can see in the new pictures, taken in the last few weeks, that the donations of food and toys really mean a lot to our families in Katatura. It's so nice to see the kids smiling when they see the toys. And the food items make a huge difference! Sad to say it's just 'papering over the cracks' though - we really need to quickly raise the remainder of the money to build the NCCV Children's Centre and concentrate on something more sustainable. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Diane Mills

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Diane handing out donations in Katatura		Local kids getting some oranges for nutrition		Small child sporting new bracelet		This girl now has a toy		Diane with some of the people your donations have gone to

Friday 19th July 2011

Sponsorship for NCCV

The Cheltenham office of telecommunications company 'Talk Talk' has organised a whole summer full of fundraising events to help 2 children’s chartities. One is UK based Hop Skip and Jump and the other we are lucky to announce is NCCV!! The project co-ordinator is Canadian Kellie Simpson and she has some fun events to raise money for children who need it most!

So far there have been… 'dress down for a pound' days in the office, pub quizzes and five a side football events which have raised over £600 in just over a month!

This weekend on Sunday 24th July there will be a Cotswold Treasure Hunt Rally! Teams of 5 people per car will be embarking on fancy dress treasure hunt for 6 hours around the Gloucestershire countryside. The hunt will then end with a evening of music and fundraising at the Railway Pub Cheltenham. Music by Jo’s AJL Jazz Quintet – come down and join the fun from 8pm onwards! We’ll be sharing some fun photos from the 24th soon!
Jo Stimpson

Charity Sponsorhip by Angus

On the 30th July Angus Brummitt - Brown will be taking part in the challenging Virgin London Sprint Triathlon for NCCV. The event consists of 750m Swim (open water), 25km Cycle, 5km Run. Angus decided to support NCCV as one of his close friends who sadly passed away this year was a keen supporter of the work Diane Mills has done for years for the children children of Nambia. We wish Angus good luck for his physical challenge and look forward to some snaps for you to enjoy! Please let us know if you would like to sponsor Angus and we will put you in touch.
Jo Stimpson

Friday 8th July 2011

Diane's return to Namibia

I arrived back in Opuwo last Friday, July 8th - almost 3 days after leaving Nottingham bus station.  I had been in the UK not only to visit family and friends but also to raise awareness on NCCV and the plight of our children in Katatura - to raise desperately needed funds!!
 
I was hoping and expecting the cold weather would be over by the time I got back to Namibia, but was disappointed.  It's colder than ever, especially during the night - also very very windy and dusty. You think of Africa and imagine it's really hot all the time but the desert climate here in Opuwo is very harsh - it's either one extreme or another. Katatura families are really struggling during this time - their shelters offer very little protection from the bitterly cold nights.  It's dry season so the vegetable garden is empty – but children need the vitamins from a nutritious diet now more than ever. 

If you think you can spare a small amount of money per month, or even make a one-off donation to alleviate some of the suffering please contact NCCV through this website by clicking on Donate button to the left.
Diane Mills

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Daughter Nangula with the 3 smallest boys

Saturday 25th June 2011

Toy Donation for NCCV Children in Katatura

During Diane's visit to the UK two kind friends of NCCV decided to buy toys and send them to Namibia for the children in Katatura. It doesn't sound a priority, toys, considering the harsh life these children are subjected to on a daily basis. However they have so little in their lives that is brightly coloured, fun and just basically 'children's stuff', that small toys are amazing to them and something they will never forget.

Many of the children in Katatura are living an adults life, heading a family and caring for siblings from a very early age. Some are also care givers to sick parents - they've never really had a childhood, only responsibilities far too big for their small shoulders.

NCCV is still desperately looking for people who are willing to donate a small amount of money per month to pay for food and medical supplies, to make the lives of these children tolerable – even to give them a life…
Please think, 'would I really miss £10 per month?'
Diane Mills

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Toys collected so far

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

Success Story
This is Verarapi Ngombe, a Himba boy who lives in Opuwo Namibia, who has been sponsored by a friend of NCCV since 2005. During that time he has been away from his family but supported through his education due to donations.
He has recently completed his education and has secured a post of Trainee Teacher with the Ministry of Education in Kunene Region. He will complete his training in 3 years but in the meantime he is earning a small salary and can now be self sufficient.
This success story and happy ending was brought about for less than £10 per month.
Diane Mills

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Verarapi

Late December 2010

In the week prior to Christmas I spent most of my time making up food parcels for some of the families in Katatura. As you can see in the picture the parcels consisted of the staple foods such as maizemeal and sugar but we also managed to buy things like tea, oil, salt and even tinned fish. Fresh vegetables from our garden were also a welcome addition. Parcels were given to ten of the most needy families - the families included 58 children. 50% of the food was given to the Ovatua and Ovazemba community who live in the most impoverished conditions on the far side of Katatura next to the local rubbish dump.

One of NCCV goals for 2011 is to work with the families to begin a garden project on the building plot and to help and encourage them to grow their own vegetables. The main barrier we will face will be the lack of water in the area.
Diane Mills

Friday 3rd December 2010

The snow kept a lot of people away - but thankyou to the band and small but perfectly fomred crowd who braved the weather to rasie £270 and also to Adrian and John who both have signed up for regular monthly contributions to NCCV.
Jo Stimpson

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Thursday 28th November 2010

My colleagues and I from GSK held a cake bake, book sale and raffle and rasied a stagerring £1,274.54

Thank you to all the girls from the  Training  and Marketing teams at GSK for all their hard work baking and selling like crazy to raise such a huge amount! and for the wonderful doantions of clothes and vitamins that Jo tokk over on her recent visit to Opuwo in Novembe.
Jo Stimpson

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On the move		Cakes 2		Group 1		Group 2		Cakes Galore!

Wednesday 17th November 2010

NCCV Day in Katatura … we planned this mainly for the children so the food provided was kids stuff, bags with oranges, crisps, biscuits and jam and peanut butter sandwiches etc. The aim was to introduce the project to the wider community. Jo was introduced and gave a small speech, even greeting everyone in Otjiherero (or something fairly close judging by the amount of laughter). Diane was already well known in Katatura. Headman Hipandurua gave a lovely speech about the project plans - another member of the Katatura Committee also gave a speech. Ladies of the community had arranged for the children to do some cultural dancing which we all really enjoyed. Balloons, music, dancing, food, it was a lovely, lively afternoon and we estimated that 200 people from the community were there.
Diane Mills

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Diane Mills, Headman Hipandurua, Jo Stimpson and Monica Limao		So happy about NCCV in Katatura		Beautiful kids of Katatura
Helping with the food		The gate and outlook of the NCCV plot		Childrens day at nccv

Tuesday 16th November 2010

Work was carried out to waterproof Lusiana's house - we had planned the work to begin before the rains came but unfortunately we were one day too late. Heavy rains began the previous night. Monica Limao translated for the builder and told him exactly what Lusiana wanted - Headman Hipandurua came to inspect the work on completion.
Diane Mills

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Lusiana with 7 of her 12 children		Gideon the builder, hard at work		Monika, our community advisor, looking at the roof		Kids at gate		Lusiana's youngest two

Monday 15th November

The day was spent in Katatura … introducing Jo to some of the families. A visit to Lusiana's to check on what work needed to be done to waterproof her home, a visit to one lady who's husband had just passed away and to another whose house had burnt down. Jo also met several ladies like Jacobina, an Ovambo lady with twelve children. Sacks of maizemeal, veg' from the NCCV garden and childrens clothes were given to the families.
Diane Mills

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Monica and Jo with Herero family outside the hut		Herero lady outside her house		Jacobina's boys
diane gets some help loading the maizemeal		Diane with baby		Typical katatura houses

Wednesday 10th November 2010

Jo was stung by a scorpion inside Diane's flat … not deadly but very painful. Pain relief via a poultice of onions and lemon!!
Diane Mills

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The scorpion		Poultice

Wednesday 10th November 2010

Trees were bought from the local Ministry of Agriculture for the NCCV plot … fruit trees amongst others; papaya, guava, lemon. Shade trees still have to be bought but that will be done at a later date. The trees will be planted once the building work commences but meantime they are being cared for in the garden of a Katatura family.
Diane Mills

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Jo at Ministry of agriculture		Vicki Limoa - who will be watering the trees for us		Loaded in the car

Wednesday 3rd November 2010

Jo Stimpson, the NCCV UK Cordinator arrived in Opuwo for a 3 week visit. Her first few days were spent settling in and getting to know the area and the people of Katatura. Diane introduced her to Headman Hipandurua and together the three of them went to look at the NCCV plot of land where the children's centre will be located. Later Jo also met Monica Limao who is a friend and volunteer community advisor/translator for NCCV.
Diane Mills

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Harry, building coordinator, with Jo at the nccv plot		Katatura Headman Hipandurua		Opuwo houses		Katatura

Monday 11 October 2010

I spent the morning visiting families in Katatura - so pleased to be able to take vegetables from our garden, spinach, beets and turnips, along with the usual maizemeal.

As you can see in the pictures, Monica Limoa, a katatura resident and friend who works for the Ministry of Health, was with me for the visits. We spent time with Lusiana and her children and even brought in local men to look at the roof that is worrying her. It's important we try to find a way to make the hut waterproof before the rains come.

I'm hoping that Monica will have time to work with and support NCCV in the future - the community visits are so much more effective if she has the time to accompany me. She can translate and is well known and respected in Katatura.
Thursday evening I was invited to her house for dinner :-) It was such a nice time.
Diane Mills

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Lusiana and the 2 youngest		Monika with 2 local guys - inspecting the roof		Monika - looking at the roof		Luciana's daughter Nangula with the 3 smallest boys

Friday 8th October

Finally collected all the money from the cahrity race and managed to raise and donate £200!.
Stuart Lee

Thursday 23rd September 2010

This morning I visited a family of 8 in Katatura - I had $100 Namibian to spend on food for them (that's just less than £10). I had to get as much staple food as I could for the money - the children in this family are always hungry. The photo shows my shopping:

• 10kg maizemeal
• 6 pkts soup (for flavouring the maizemeal)
• 2 kg of sugar (to mix with water for the children)
• 2 bottles cooking oil (for cooking the maizemeal)
• Bag of meat bones - for soup
• box of 40 tea bags
• 8 oranges
  

Maizemeal is the main food - not very nutritious but it fills the stomachs. I'm always tempted to buy more vegetables and fruit but the money would not go very far then. Hopefully we'll be sharing the vegetables from the garden soon. Diane Mills

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Food for £10

Wednesday 1st September 2010

This morning I visited our plot of land expecting to see the poles in place ready for the wiring of the fence. I've been in Windhoek for 2 weeks and left money and instructions before I went. - Don't plan in Africa - I should know that by now :-))

Misunderstanding, miscommunication, whatever - it all boils down to the fact that I'll have to learn Otjiherero.

As you can see from the pictures the holes aren't dug and the poles aren't in - Harry Tjiposa had told the labourer to get started but he thought he had to wait until I was back. This morning the 4 of us went up to the plot, Headman Hipandurua, Harry, myself and the labourer. We clearly marked the corners of the land with small piles of rocks and he will start the holes tomorrow. At least the poles are cut, stripped and ready :-))
Diane Mills

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NCCV Plot

Wednesday 1st September 2010

'As you can see the veggie garden is coming along well - things seem to grow very fast. Hopefully in a month or two we'll be able to help several families with a bit of nutritious food. At the moment the garden is just at my house but once we began work on the NCCV plot I hope to have a much larger garden and maybe local people will help. We're growing at the moment: tomatoes, sweet potatos, spinach, carrots, beetroot, green beans and butternuts'.
Diane Mills

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NCCV Garden

Wednesday 28th July 2010

I finally managed to track down Lusiana, the blind woman I had been looking for for several weeks. Her house had burnt down while I was away and she'd had to relocate.

I was distressed to see how she was living - still with 8 children at home she is living in one small hut built for her by the people from her Church following the fire. The children looked in very poor condition but were excited when they saw I had taken food. Lusiana cried!!

I only had $N100 (about £10) but managed to buy : maizemeal, oil, bread, macaroni, eggs, sugar and a bag of meat bones. Stretched to its limits the food may last them 3 days.
Diane Mills

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Lusiana		Lusiana and her family		Lusianas youngest

Tuesday 20th July 2010

After several meetings I am so happy to say that NCCV have recieved a plot of land - Kindly donated by local Chief Hipandurua. The land is on the hillside above the Katatura location on the outskirts of Opuwo. It has not been measured as yet as the land was shown to me by the, 'it's from that tree to that tree', method!! Its a beautiful piece of land - very rocky but hopefully there will be plenty of help to clear it.

The first task facing me is to get local people to chop trees to make poles that will be placed to mark off our ownership of the land - hopefully that will be done within the next week.

Katatura is the ideal location for a children's project - it is one of the most poor areas of town with lots of children. Chief Hipandurua said there is a great need for a kindergarten and asked if NCCV could help - hence the donation of land. He stated quite clearly that his community needed support and he hoped our project would make a difference in the area.
Diane Mills

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Diane with Chief Hipandurua		Harry Tjiposa, friend and translater, with Chief Hipandurua (right) - both proud to show me the land		view from the plotl		Looking out from the NCCV plot

Tuesday 13th July 2010

I went out to visit one of the nearby villages - I had a friend visiting from Angola so I took her with me. We took staple food for the Himbas: maizemeal, sugar, oil, bread etc.

They were happy to see us once they understood we were not tourist but that I lived in the area. This was the first time for me to be invited into the 'womens hut' - we sat around the fire inside the hut and somehow had 'girly' conversation about skin, hair, handbags etc.
Diane Mills

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Happy faces		Diane with the villagers		Himba boy carrying food		Village scene

Saturday 3rd July 2010

I Just enjoyed a walk around the outside of town - met some lovely kids. One boy - who is in the photo - remembered me from two years ago and tried to follow me home. I was shocked that he remembered me and even my name. He is very thin and does not seem to have grown at all in the last two years. He is one of the first children I would like to benefit from NCCV.
Diane Mills

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Tree kids		Back of house and part built extension		Herero boy at the goat coral

Friday 2nd July 2010

Am. I had a meeting with Bernadette Jagger who is the School Inspector for all the schools in this area. She travels out a lot and has the best knowledge of the poorest areas where the need is the greatest. It was also a chance to give the Ministry of Education more details about NCCV. Long term plans are for remedial lessons to help keep kids in school - for this NCCV has to work alongside the Ministry.

Pm. Was taken by a local businessman to look at a house he had heard was for sale outside of town. The house is in the new location and is only half finished - the land is good and has water but as yet no electricity. I was told the lady who is selling is out of town until monday so hopefully I will meet her then.
Diane Mills

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House for sale		New location

Wednesday 30th June 2010

I'm back to the same area to collect some people who had to come into town. Camped overnight in the bush - air matrress went down in the night so slept on the hard stoney ground :-(
Diane Mills

Monday 28th June 2010

I drove out to ...... area (about 2.5 hours out of Opuwo on the Okorosave road). A chance to visit kids in a more remote school and to see how people were living. Most of the kids in this area aren't going to school - their job is to look after the goats and cattle.
Diane Mills

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View from outside the school		3 girls		2 goat herding boys		With the English teachers at the campsite		Kids in the village

Friday 18th June 2010

Meeting with Meme Ndinelao Shiningayamwe – who is in charge of land sale for Opuwo Council. We spent time driving around together so she could show me plots that had been surveyed and were for sale. It seems a good size plot for NCCV will cost about N$20,000 (about £1800.) Not all of the plots have services yet – in fact it may be difficult for us to get a plot in an area with water and electricity but she has my phone number and we are going to meet regularly.

Spent the afternoon driving around all the locations (shanty towns) outside of town with the help of a friend who is a community volunteer – Steven is a great help as well as a friend. He knows everyone in the community and can also translate for me. Many more people have moved to this area since I’ve been away – they think the tar road will bring prosperity so they move out of the bush nearer town and just build shelters from whatever they can find. The living conditions are very very poor. Cholera is around still!!
Diane Mills

Thursday 17th June 2010

I worked in the local kindergarten during the morning. Seems a good way to get to know some of the younger children an I have also offered to do some training for the teachers.

In the afternoon I went out to Orumana School – (about 40km outside of Opuwo) to check on one boy who is sponsored by a friend. As usual I was surrounded by small children – when I asked one little boy his name he said, ‘Drogba’. This whole continent has gone football crazy!
Diane Mills

Wednesday 16th June 2010

NCCV now have small office – donated by friend (will also have wireless internet in the office when we sort out the problems) so have to learn how to get blog up and running.

In the afternoon I went outside of Opuwo to Ondura area (about 20 km out) – with same friend Pam Peterson who is from the local church. Took her bakkie to visit Himba friends – loaded the bakkie with mealies and drove it from the fields to the village. This was a nice way to help friends – the women would usually have to make numerous journeys carrying it on their heads. They put the mealies on the roof to dry. Also watched them picking Ozongaru – quite nice tasting berry-like fruit.
Diane Mills