Education, Nutrition, Health and Safety to 60 Kids

Warm greetings to all my dear friends!

In all these years basically, nothing seems to have changed at Mammadu. Well, of course, a lot has changed: we extended our buildings, we can offer the children more, we have a better bus, a better menu, better teachers, more space and and and ... but in the day to day matters nothing has changed.

We still keep on saying “Please wash your hands“, “Did you brush your teeth?”,” It is about time you did your homework“, “No, don‘t rock with the chair“, “Whose shoes are these?“ – but, after all, which mother and educator does not say this a hundred times per day!

But it is our kids who have truly changed. Next year our first intake of kindergarten kids is ready to enter high school!

Because I see them daily, I don’t actually notice how they have grown. How grown up, how self-assured they are, how responsible and reliable they are and what a good self-image they have acquired. The toddlers have turned into young persons. They have developed so amazingly, naturally, each in his or her own way and according to his or her own special nature, but all in all one can certainly be proud of them.

I only fully realized these changes and developments when Selene came to visit us after several years. She and her husband were one of our first visitors in Mammadu’s early years. It was when we had almost nothing and our first kids were very young. Now, many years later Selene and her family visited us again, and not only did they admire our new buildings and all the good things we have acquired and achieved, but it was mainly our children and young people who gained their profound admiration.  

Of course, may things happened in the recent weeks and months and we were able to have several excursions. We visited the theatre for the final rehearsal of a musical. Although Benjamin nodded off (it was so nice and cool and dark and the seats were so comfortable!), the others were so enthusiastic that they immediately started performing dances in the toilets. We were again invited to the Embassy of Malaysia for their National Holiday and, as in previous years, the kids danced and helped at the ADS Bazaar.

During the next couple of weeks there is only one thing on our program: study and nothing but study for the examinations at the end of the month.

As always, I wish to thank each and every one for their help and support. Our Mammadu family is getting bigger and bigger both here and in Europe, and it is good to know that you all are there for us and that you share the experience of watching our children grow. 

Warm greetings to all my dear friends

The school holidays at the end of the first trimester have just ended. Even though the schools are closed, Mammadu stays open so that those kids who are not sent to their rural villages to herd goats and cattle have some holiday entertainment and activities.

One of the highlights of these school holidays was Mago Tony, a magician and the founder of the Non Profit Organization Magic Brother World. He travels the world entertaining children, using his magic to stimulate the imagination of children, and also focusing on orphans, children with handicaps and those from impoverished backgrounds. He contacts the local magicians in the countries he visits and provides them with training so that his projects can continue to develop and expand – and all this at no cost at all. 

Mago Tony found us on the internet and visited us together with a colleague Hans Nordsiek. His tricks are nothing special and cannot be compared to those of Houdini or Dynamo; they are more like children’s part tricks, but Mago Tony superbly succeeds to bowl everyone over with his magical flair. The children were so enthusiastic and inspired! Such pure joy! Their amazement and excitement were unbelievable, while for me it was more fun just to watch the kids. I can definitely recommend Mago Tony. Find him at his Facebook site 

And while we are busy with what is magical and unbelievable, here is something very special:

Previously I mentioned that one of our children attends the German School. This young boy is very talented and chose to attend the German stream of the school where all the subjects are taught through the medium of German rather than through the medium of English, so that he can obtain the German school leaving Abitur which will give him better opportunities for further university studies. He obviously has a hard time coping with learning German. Consequently it was his wish to stay at the school’s residence where he is exposed to German throughout the day, and the school also recommended this. The problem however was that Mammadu was not able to afford the high costs of the residence. Naturally it was also my personal wish to enable the child to stay at the residence where he can be in a German environment, has three meals a day, running cold and hot water, and and and… So we tried to negotiate different possibilities, going back and forth and here and there. The school granted us a discount and a certain lady offered to donate a monthly amount, but all this was not enough. Our young boy wrote letters asking for assistance and we sent them to various potential supporters. He even gave a short talk motivating his need for financial assistance, which must have demanded a lot of his courage …. but nothing happened.

….. and then, just before the schools re-opened a large group of tourists visited us. We showed them Mammadu and explained what we do for the children. The tourists played with the children and talked to them, took photos and simply had a good time. And then, just before the group was about to get into their bus again and continue their journey, their leader handed me envelope, explaining that it contained a donation which the tour group had collected for us, even before they had visited Mammadu. And, this unexpected donation was exactly the outstanding amount we needed for our young boy’s stay at the school’s residence.

Is this coincidence? Magic? God’s hand?

You cannot imagine this child’s joy. We are now covered for this year and he can stay at the residence. We have to see how we manage next year, always one step at a time.

Links:

• In case you want to contact Mago Tony