… Part 6 By now you might be thinking this; these street children, these vulnerable nippers in Epako (or in any former township in southern Africa) who helps them to survive? Why don’ t they have parents around? There are many answers to the last question. Disease is the biggie. HIV/AIDS being the obvious one. […]
Simon Says?
Part 5 Simon didn’t say much. He didn’t have the energy to. Simon (pronounced ‘Sih-mon’ in Afrikaans) is 10 years old but weighs much less than my own 6 year old boy. Who is hardly a big lad himself. Simon is malnourished. Along with his sister, he is an orphan and sleeps wherever he can […]
Alan Sugar – Read It and Weep
(Part 4) My kids started to hand out the apples we had brought and were astonished at the enormous grins that they received from the children. Fruit is an oh-so rare luxury here. My daughter was puzzled, however. “Mum – why do a lot of the kids sort of bow or curtsey when you give […]
No Tantrums in the Townships
(Part 3) I’ll admit that something I was rather stressed about when returning to Namibia was the way that my kids would behave in public. It doesn’t take a genius to notice that in general, African kids who live in the sub-Saharan countries are less … hyper … shall we say – than kids from […]
Them in Their DARK Corner …
(Part 2) Bit of a play on some very old-fashioned words to a hymn there … One of my strongest memories of living and working in Namibia is of waking up just after dawn and hearing small children a-singing. These were the lucky ones who had a school to go to – walking long distances […]