Education, Nutrition, Health and Safety to 60 Kids

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF YEAR FOR GRATITUDE We thank, with all our heart, those who have contributed and who continue to contribute with their donations to support the Mammadu project.

ONE OF OUR CHILDREN IS NOW A NEW MOTHER! As you know, one of the Mammadu students became a mother recently. Both mother and baby are doing well and we are happy that she continues coming to Mammadu to further her education and studies. The new mother’s health is being monitored consistently and her baby is developing well. In fact, she is now eating almost anything that is on her mother’s plate.

PANDEMIC SITUATION The Mammadu center was closed for two months due to Covid. It was a difficult time for everyone, both for children and for the staff working in the center. However, we have taken steps to serve lunch and a takeaway snack to all our children. We have had an internet connection in the center for a few years now. It proved very useful to 5 of our children who were allowed to attend the center to be able to follow the school lessons online.

VOLUNTEERS The pandemic has resulted in a total lack of volunteers. It has only recently been possible to volunteer at the center again. The first volunteer comes from Italy and some local students attend the center for school reasons.

THE PLAYGROUND Thanks to the donations received, we can now restore the playground which had been unused for some months due to the precarious conditions of the structures. Imagine the joy of the children following the restoration work!

THE SCHOOL The situation has now improved compared to before. The school that has been able to follow the indications of the ministry of health have reopened normally while other school have adopted the frequency every other day.

STRUCTURAL RESTORATION Thanks to your donations, in the coming months we will start some restoration work at the center. The years, the intense use and the weather conditions have caused some damage. Repairs to the fence, bathrooms and plastering of the premises are now necessary.

A VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY Our Augusto turned 18 on August 4th. It is our first "child" who has come of age. He has been attending Mammadu since the opening of the center. Augusto grew up with Mammadu and Mammadu grew up with him. You can imagine what a great celebration this special birthday accompanied him. Studious, very intelligent, over the years he has given us great satisfaction. Always ready to help others, over the years he has become one of the reference points for the little ones. He attends the DHPS school in Windhoek, where he attends the 10th grade His study plan ranges from medicine to engineering or engineering biomedicine and he would like to study in Germany or in UK. He doesn't have a girlfriend at the moment. He dreams of being able to travel the world and above all to visit Italy and maybe find a girlfriend there! That he was a special child was understood from an early age. Stefania Rabotti, president of Mammadu Onlus, remembers him in a particularly significant situation, which testifies to the great heart of Augusto: "I seem to remember it was the year 2012. I accompanied a group of tourists visiting the Mammadu center. A Roman girl gave the children crayons, markers and sweets brought from Italy for all of them. Augusto immediately went to work on her to create a drawing for her to give as a sign of thanks. As we were getting ready for our bus to leave, behind us we heard the little voice of Augusto calling the girl "Here your pastels, don't forget it!". Augusto wanted to thank her for having had the opportunity to use the pastels on loan. A lesson in spontaneous education that moved everyone! Happy birthday Augusto and we wish you the best!

As the rest of the world is also seeing it, Namibia has been hit with a spike in COVID-19 cases. It touched home when a staff person from Mammadu was confirmed as positive. Thankfully, she has fully recovered, and no one else got it. We have been very diligent to follow the rules set forth by the government, even though we know what that means- the children may not have regular meals, they are not schooling consistently, their families may be losing their jobs, and the livlihoods of everyone are at stake. 

During this last quarter, the Khomas region in Namibia (which is where Mammadu is located) has seen a spike where the cases were exceeding 1400 per day. This is a lot for us because Namibia is not densely populated and has just over 2.5 million people in total. Beause of this, Mammadu became a hub for the community and our services changed a bit. We no longer provided schooling and food to just our students, but we had to broaden our scope to support the families of our students and the community as a whole. As you can see in the picutres, we put together bags of food and passed them out regularly. 

In our most recent lockdown, Mammadu's cook was making food and those who needed it would come with lunchboxes to get a "take-away" meal. At some point, the students who attended private school were allowed to come to Mamamdu to take classes via Zoom (using Mammadu's internet). They adhered to strict social distancing, wore masks, and sanitized regularly. 

As of Mid-July, the President of Namibia opened schools again for students to attend in-person. We will welcome the children back with open arms, but will still adhere to strict guidelines to keep everyone safe and healthy. We know schooling is important long-term, but nutrition is most important in this moment because it could mean the difference between life and death for our students and their families. 

We know that times are tough worldwide, so we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the prayers, donations, and other means of support that you all provide. We are truly grateful! 

Stay safe and take good care of those around you!