The Children

The children are from the locations and plots around the school, where they mostly spend a sad life. They live in tin shacks. They do not have toys - no dolls or teddy bears. 

The children live far from town, so reaching a school there would not be possible for them, and in any case the relatives could not afford the school fees which are some hundred N$ in town......

Because of the kindness of Mrs. Katjita as well as the financial aid of the government Shamalindi School was built to give these pupils chance of education. 

These children have to walk long distances (between 3 and 8 km) every day to come to their school.

Circumstances the children are growing up in are really bad. In big families the father mostly is the only one earning money. From his salary mostly an amount of  N$400 ( 40 Euros ) per month he has to feed a wife and 5-8 children.

Also because of  HIV / AIDS many of the children are orphans growing up in the houses of relatives. For these relatives the children are a further load. 

Unemployment and alcoholism are really big problems too.                     

Sometimes children must stay hungry for several days, because at home there is no food.  There is occasionally local support to provide meals for the children but this is rare. 

No money is available for clothes, which means that some children have dirty or torn clothes.

Every morning, 180 of those children, coming from 6 different tribes and speaking thus 6 different languages, run several km to reach their Shamalindi pre-primary and primary school !

Even in such difficult conditions, those kids are able to keep smiling and have eyes full of dreams and hopes...