By Agnes Albrecht | Founder and Manager of Mammadu
Hi to all of you
Beginning of November we celebrated our anniversary, the kids wanted to play and show there rhino story, so we just upgraded it to a musical with a lot of dancing and singing, involving all our kids even the smaller ones. It was so great. You can see the entire show on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mammadu.trust
You also must be proud of our school kids, they performed so well, and four of them even got a special certificate from school as they are in the ten best learners of their grades! It was so touching to see them on stage. Well done Vini, Josia, Vemu and Javaza, you are our stars.
At Mammadu during the last months oft he year also a new building project started. We are busy with our bakery, not only will it help people of the area help to do their shopping but it will be also a vocational training centre for adults, youngsters and for our kids to learn a job and give them a better opportunity in life.
Last adventure of the year was our wonderful outing, unfortunately some oft he kids didn’t come with as they were already sent to their home villages! What a pity! Home villages could have waited a few days longer because visiting Etosha National Park and all the wild animals is a unique experience. We spent the first night at Kambaku Lodge, a very lovely place and 100% child friendly. Not only do they have a swimming pool and a wonderful playground but they also offer a lot of activities for kids. Arrow shooting, horse riding and a special big five tracking with GPS. Actually the „big fives“ are little wooden animal toys hidden in the bush and the challenge for the kids was to find them!! All our kids participated in all activities and had a lot of fun.
The best part was the horse riding; while we were still in the car all oft the kids were very brave, thinking of jumping with the horses and racing through the bush. What a change a bit later when we were standing in front oft the horses!!! Big animals and very small kids!! Hope you can picture it. Petrus was truly scared, only after breathing exercise he managed to get in the saddle asking me to ride together with him!! While all the other also climbed their horses, his moved the head and I heard him screaming nearly in panic „Mami it’s moving“, Petrusa it’s an animal and is moving like all other animals too, I tried to explain him. There horses are very well trained and for every two horses plus riders was a staff member walking with them, so truly nothing could happen. The really funny part was, when they came back, the picture changed again drastically, so scared they were at the beginning so much in love with their horse they were an hour later. Cuddling and feeding old bred to their horses!!! Petrus even kissed his Tara. Unbelievable how things can change in one hour.
The day after we drove through Etosha Park, where we saw a lot of animals, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, elephants, lions and even a white Rhino, till we reached Ongava, were it was raining a lot. A true blessing for our country so actually everybody was very happy that we from Mammadu brought the rain. Ongava is a private reserve famous for their lions and rhinos. Then we were shown around and our rooms were explained to us. Lovely and very comfortable rooms but always only with two beds, we were 7 girls and 5 boys and nobody wanted to sleep alone, so they shared beds. While the manager explained everything to us, telling us that nobody is allowed on the veranda after sun set and before sun rise, and that we had a special trumpet to blow in case of emergencies all because oft he lions, Benjamin’s eyes got bigger and bigger and bigger, looking at me „Mami please tell me it’s not true“! our little ones were scared!! So we changed again the room plan and I and the other volunteers shared rooms with the smaller children. During the night I could hear the lions, Benji didn’t he was sleeping deeply. At Ongava we not only had a fabulous time but we also learned the difference between black and white rhino, it has nothing to do with the colour, both are equally grey. Actually it’s based on a misinterpretation, the white rhino comes from wide, it has a wide mouth as it is a grass eater, somehow during time wide became white. The black rhino is called that way just to distinguish it from the white one and has a small mouth with a long upper lip as it eats leaves from the trees and is a bit smaller. At Ongava we also so the black one too which is rare and Josia decided that he was in our play a Black Rhino.
A special thank you goes to Kambaku Lodge and Ongava Lodge who offered this outing all for free for our Mammadu Kids.
Last year went past so fast and 2016 already started. Stay safe and all the best for a marvellous 2016.
Thank you so much for all your assitance and love.
A kiss to all of you from the kids
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By Agnes Albrecht | Founder and Manager of Mammadu
By Agnes Albrecht | founder and Manager of Mammadu
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