Hope Initiatives Southern Africa (H.I.S.A.)

I am currently here in Namibia living and volunteering with Hope Initiatives Southern Africa.  H.I.S.A. is and NGO (non-governmental organization) that works with the poorest of the poor in the unofficial settlements outside of Windhoek, Namibia in southern Africa. HISA works mainly with children and the youth, but has support groups for adults as well. It all began when a woman named Patricia (who grew up in southern Africa) came to Namibia after studying in London for 10 years and saw the horrifying quality of life in Namibia. Specifically, she was struck by how many unattended and sick children there were in the settlements. She decided to do all she could to improve the lives of Namibia’s forgotten people. Renting a tin shack in Okahandja Park (one of these settlements) she cooked soup at 2 pm and offered it to local children. The first day there were 15 kids, the second day there were 40 and the third there were 70 children! Patricia quickly decided that she needed to make taking care of these kids and tending to the community her life's mission. When her husband John arrived, he took the children under the shade of a tree and started to teach them. The couple did this for quite some time until a woman from an NGO in Germany (Germany had colonized Namibia, so it is still involved in the now-free nation) called “Hand in Hand” saw what Patricia and John were doing for these displaced children and decided to help. She brought in the money that they needed and built a proper soup kitchen with a small working kitchen, an attached classroom, and a small dirt yard for the children to play in.

5 years later, Hope Initiatives Southern Africa has come a long way from that small tin soup kitchen to what it is today, and it has gotten there on the wings of a woman’s vision, dedicated volunteers, and the unmatched kindness of our countless donors.

Right now, HISA has three different sites in these unofficial settlements. One site is the site of HISA’s Bridging School at Ombili Okalindi #5 in Kilimanjaro Park. The name of this school is the perfect for what we do there. The Bridging School takes in the cases, troubles, and children that no one else will. We do not charge them anything and we give them two meals a day. For almost all of these children, the food we give them is the only food the will get all day, and even though we do our best, we cannot give them a lot. Our meals are usually beans or pasta or pap (a white, starchy, paste that is meant to be very filling). In the morning they get a bowl for breakfast before class and then a bowl before they leave in the afternoon. What the Bridging School seeks to do is take the children of the settlement who have never been to school (local street children, kids orphaned from AIDS, kids that can’t afford it or are taking care of their own children, etc.) and we teach them up to a 4^th grade level and then get them scholarships to continue their education in a better school or to learn a trade. Like the name suggests, our school is literally a bridge for these children into a future that they would never have otherwise. The ages of the children here run from 9 to 16 and they come to us with no idea of how to read or write. Some children just live outside the gate because they don’t have homes. We teach English, Math, Ethics and family, PE, and Gardening.

The second site that HISA operates is the original soup kitchen that Patricia had started. This soup kitchen is still in conjunction with the German NGO but HISA runs it and provides for it. We begin before 8 in the morning and we average working with about 85 children a day. We have formed ‘playgroups’ that meet all morning until 1:00 pm and basically supervise the kids and give them a place to go instead of wandering around on their own or staying in their poor and often abusive homes. We do as much as we can with the children. We teach them basic skills, and English, and we sing and dance and play and just do whatever else allows them to be kids, even if it is only for a morning. In the afternoon, just like in the beginning, at 2:00 pm we operate our soup kitchen to any children who need it (we average about 100 kids). The children that come to the soup kitchen are from ages 2 to 10. In the afternoon, we offer a “homework group” for older kids that are either locals or students at the Bridging School. As well as counseling for women with HIV/AIDS or TB as well as victims of rape and classes that seek to strengthen the structure of the family and home.

The final site that is part of HISA is possible because of the fundraising done at Denison University and the grace of a private donor from Italy. Thanks to the money the Denison chapter of HISA raised, HISA was able to purchase land in the third unofficial settlement outside of Windhoek; Babylon Park. They were also able to afford fresh water pipes and separate sewage pipes to the site to provide for the future building and with the money from the Italian donor, we will be able to build a second soup kitchen that will be entirely HISA’s. We hop to complete this project by October.

It is a very exciting time to be involved with Hope Initiatives Southern Africa and we only intend to grow more!