By Agnes Albrecht | Member of the Trust and Manager
Greetings to all my dear friends!
There is a lot to tell you about.
On 16 June Mammadu was in charge of the Café at Green Market for the first time and we also provided all the snacks on the menu. When I applied for this opportunity at the beginning of the year I did not think it was a big deal, but when there were only a couple of weeks left till the due date I started questioning my decision because of the large amount of work and preparation involved. However, in the end it was a huge success and lots of fun. We had many helpers and many delicious contributions of cakes and other food items. The older children served at the tables and earned a nice sum of money from tips, which naturally makes them want to repeat this event. Well, perhaps we can think about it next year.
Thanks to all the Sponsors: Gondwana for all the food, Carla De Klerk for the amazing chocolate cakes, Ida Alina Salleh for not just making muffins and cakes but also helping during the service, Bobbie Person for the vegetarian and gluten free products and for helping during the service, Inge Heiman Schlie for the best apple pie ever and the Kenyan Embassy for the savoury samosas. A huge thank you goes to all the volunteers, they baked, cooked, organised and help so much, Thank you Donna , Raphaela Dell, Elena Fort, Angela Baroni, Johanna, Nik, Luise. A huge thank you also goes to the children who helped on the floor and they did really an amazing job and got tipped. An enormous thank you goes to Elisabeth Wallner, she took care of all the money matters in a very serious way. Special Thanks go to Mammadu Staff too, Meme Dina, Yolande, MemeJohana and Daniel our Driver. And obviously an special tanks you goes to all our guests who came to our Cafe' and enjoyed our food. Thank you Green Market for this opportunity.
Since Mammadu’s main objective is to give the children an academic education and a good all-round general upbringing, we are very proud that 3 of our older children have been accepted in some of the best private schools. They are our best learners and passed the entrance examinations with flying colours. These private schools offer a final school certificate (the Abitur) which is accredited overseas and thus opens up study opportunities for them world-wide. This makes me feel very proud indeed. Since the provision of knowledge is unfortunately always expensive the school fees are high, but Mammadu’s mission is after all to enable children from poor households to also have a good education.
Hertha Nekwaya is a Namibian author who has just published the book “Courage Wins”. She has generously offered the proceeds from the sale of the book to Mammadu. Almost all our kids who can already read, have read the book, laughing and crying as they went along! We have also received permission to turn the book into a “musical” and plan to perform it during our birthday celebration on 3 November.
And yes, we are busy building once again. At the beginning of the year we did a survey among our children to find out about their wishes and needs for the future and how they evaluate and experience Mammadu. The following are some abstracts:
What about Mammadu could be different?
it would be good to have a separate place to eat, e. g a cafeteria. Some of the older children mentioned that the tables and chairs during meals, are too small. They wished for a designated eating area
How can Mammadu be more attractive for teenagers?
a classroom designated for only the older kids, a library with books for teenagers, both fiction and textbooks, computer room, a quiet space only available to the older children, instruments, TV-games, gardening, cooking and learning about food and nutrition. A few other ideas were workshops, e. g fixing bikes, furniture or cars. Several children wished for a swimming pool. Some also wished for gymnasticsclasses, and volunteers that had some special knowledge, e. g dancing, food or music.
We consequently decided to build a dining hall with smaller and larger tables and chairs as well as the desired facilities for our teenagers. Teens understandably have their own interests and needs, and since we have more and more teens every year it is important to further their interests. A swimming pool would also be on my wish list, but that must remain a dream for the time being.
By Agnes Albrecht | Member of Mammadu Trust
By Agnes Albrecht | Member if Mammadu Trust
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