Greetings to one and all!
February 22 marks the date of my departure for
Namibia, on a fabulous ticket donated by Priceline.
As the date nears, my excitement level is getting
higher and the 'to-do-before-I-leave' list is
gradually getting shorter.
First and foremost, thank you to each and every one of
you for helping Sekolo Projects get this far!
We have raised over $70,000, the vast majority from
individuals and family foundations. The
United Nations Federal Credit Union granted Sekolo Projects
$10,000 towards the Our HIV ABC project, which is a
wonderful gift of support and encouragement. With the
money raised to date we will be able to accomplish
about half of our task; half of the schools in
Namibia will receive training and improved educational
materials.
I will return to Connecticut in August to continue
fundraising in the hopes of reaching our final goal of
$150,000 and training at least one teacher at each of
Namibia's secondary schools. At the same time, I will
be able to give all of you a personal update and
report on the project.
In the many presentations that I have done around
Greenwich, in Groton, MA and in Franklin Lakes, NJ,
one of the most common questions is about what I will
actually be doing when I get to Namibia. Let me tell
you:
I plan to be in Namibia for 6 months. The first month
I will stay in the capital city of Windhoek and get
the program up and running; that means securing a
cellular phone, renting a post box, purchasing a 4x4
vehicle for safe transport, arranging for the
duplication of the videos and teacher's guide that I
will distribute, and most importantly, contacting the
schools that I will visit to arrange for our training
workshops.
Hopefully, after the first month, training workshops
will begin. I will be moving on a three-week
rotation: on the road for three weeks at a time,
visiting 9 to 12 different school clusters, then back
to Windhoek to re-stock and wash my clothes!
In Windhoek, I will be staying with friends who run a
guest house, Rivendell. There I will be able to
connect to the Internet, wash my clothes, eat with
friends, and take an hour to relax by the swimming pool before heading
out on the road again. You can see pictures of the
guest house here.
The Sekolo website is soon to be updated with additional
information and hopefully pictures; thanks to the
donations of an incredible digital camera and also a
laptop, both of which will accompany me to Namibia and
enable me to keep you all up to speed with the
progress of Sekolo Projects. I will also be posting
these newsletters to the website regularly. Do check
out the website when you get the chance: www.sekoloprojects.org
Take care, and be in touch,
Elizabeth
