Project Development
Human Dreams e.V.
Windhoek (Namibia)
January 2021.
Ahhh Namibia… it's already sounding like freedom, wide open spaces and unique settings. The dream of nature and road trip lovers… If we expected a culture shock in Zambia, we never suspected that we would experience a reverse one in Namibia. Infrastructures of all kinds, large shopping centers, large cars, concrete buildings… in short, the come back of our familiar civilization. But, what are these tin shelters on the side of the road?
Slums.
What do you mean by slums? Impossible! The country seems so rich and developed! And yet…
Photo by The Conversation
During our trip, these striking inequalities will give the incredible landscapes a bitter, incoherent, unfair taste… If it is easy as a tourist to naively take advantage of Namibia's extraordinary assets, the reality is unfortunately quite different when one decides to open his eyes a little more...
Contents
Context
Namibia, a recent nation, is a semi-desert country in southern Africa that achieved independence only 30 years ago. First colonized by the Germans in 1878, the country experiences one of the greatest ethnic genocides in history: 80% of Hereros and 50% of Namas are killed. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles forces the Germans to abandon South West Africa. In 1920, the League of Nations (now the UN) places the country under the supervision of South Africa. The latter sees Namibia as its “fifth province” and even tries to enforce its apartheid policy. In 1989, the first free elections are held, after which the SWAPO (People's Organization of South West Africa) wins by 57.5%. Namibia becomes independent the following year, on March 21, 1990.
Today, the country suffers from an accumulation of paradoxes and has one of the highest levels of inequality in the world (World Bank, 2021).
Agricultural land is still predominantly owned by ex-settlers, or descendants of ex-settlers. Territorial distributions are therefore heterogeneous and only an elite benefits from it, leaving many people in need behind. A past, but still a reality, which explains the imbalances between social classes and perpetuates racial inequalities. Indeed, the population is 92% black, but despite determined decolonization and clear domination by the SWAPO, the white elite controls more than half of the national wealth. Most of the population is therefore poor, if not extremely poor (World Bank, 2021).
However, the country's resources are abundant, which include mines for diamonds, gold, silver and uranium. Farming and fishing can also be added. And China has understood the potential! It is Namibia's second largest investor, in addition to being its main export market. Relations began diplomatically as soon as the country gained independence, and this strategic alliance benefits both parties. The Chinese continue to increase their influence on the African territory and Namibia is developing its infrastructure, diversifying and creating new industries (The Namibian, 2020).
Underpopulated and despite a growing economy, the youth unemployment rate still stands at 40% (World Bank, 2020). Inflation remains a serious problem as does the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has already created tens of thousands of orphans. Today, 20% of the Namibian population still suffers from it (UNAIDS, 2020). Another dramatic finding, 43% of the population of Caprivi (region of Namibia) are carriers of the virus or have already developed the disease (IFRC, 2020). Why this region rather than another ...?
Even the geography and climate testify of an unequal country. Most of the land is dry, even desert, with a savannah covered with large ranches (about 5,000 hectares each) run by wealthy white farmers. The north, on the Angolan border and along the Okavango River is quite the opposite: black, overcrowded, humid and of course significantly poor. The local ethnic group, the Ovambos, practice subsistence agriculture and generally live below the poverty line. This North/South difference, low and humid/high and desert, Black/White communities make Namibia one of the record countries of inequality!
Shocked? Well we too! If almost all of our photos on social media are only a reflection of this country rich in infrastructure and landscapes, it is because this is what we have experienced and what we have seen. Spontaneous in the discovery and at first ignorant of the deep problems of the country, we let ourselves be carried away by the adventure. But you know us, it didn't take us long for being triggered: by the sight of the slums on the side of the road, by the number of people begging at the exit of the supermarket, by the prominence of whites that we have encountered in relation to blacks, by the incredible gap in wealth… Enough to move us and leave us perplexed in front of Namibia’s beauty.
Called on, we are trying to find a humanitarian mission that speaks to us and that can confront us with the current issues. Unfortunately, we struggle to connect with disadvantaged people because of safety and accessibility issues. Via a volunteering platform, we nevertheless manage to contact Nicole, who represents the perfect link between these two worlds living at opposite ends.
Human Dreams e.V.
Human Dreams e.V. is above all the story of Nicole Mtawa, who could not remain indifferent in front of the poverty present in the world.
Traveler and curious from an early age, she wanted to step out of her comfort zone in order to see the reality of other people: the one of the underprivileged.
Her first trip is not easy, since she decides to go to India, a country known by travelers to be very difficult psychologically speaking because of a very present and shocking poverty. What she predicts happens: the number of children, especially disabled children, who live on the streets or in unsuitable centers upsets her. But what moves her the most is her meeting with the little Ganesh in an orphanage of New Delhi. Skin on his bones, forgotten because no one knows how to help him. She takes him under her wing and does everything she can to find him the care he needs. Today, his evolution is incredible!
Ganesh's evolution
She also travels to Africa where her adventures alongside the underprivileged, street, abandoned, disabled or sick children motivate her to publish her first book (Sternendiebe or Star Thieves in English). She also tells about her love story with Juma, a Tanzanian who grew up on the streets and with whom she will have Julie, now 8 years old.
It is following the many positive feedbacks regarding the publication of her book that she founds her NGO Human Dreams e.V. in 2010.
Her first project happens in the suburbs of New Delhi in India, where she creates a childcare home.
She welcomes her first patient Milap in 2011. At just 12 years old, he suffers from tuberculosis due to brain damage that appeared during his birth. Abandoned by his parents, the little one therefore finds himself with significant psychological injuries in addition to his physical pain.
Milap's evolution
Other children are also taken care of through a comprehensive treatment program (medical care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, etc.).
In Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, she then builds two villages for the underprivileged children. The first, including a rehabilitation center, now accommodates 30 orphans who receive regular medical and therapeutic care. The second is a day care center for children from single-parent families. In addition to the presence of professionals (specialized educational exercises, physiotherapy and medical monitoring), games, trampolines and a recovery room are also available to stimulate the children.
The new project
First motivated by the educational needs of her daughter, Nicole moves to Namibia, where she continues to coordinate all her ambitions. She has no place to live, but accustomed to have little possessions, her combi-van becomes her home. It doesn't last forever, because the visit of a 5 hectare farm, 20 km from the capital, completely charms her...
In January 2020, the NGO acquires it. Since then, Nicole's projects have taken shape. She believes that this farm is the ideal place to develop a therapy center for the underprivileged children of the Windhoek slum, especially those with mobility issues and disabilities. Children will be transported by special school buses from the slum to the nearby farm, where they will be lovingly cared for in homes with a family atmosphere. Parents will thus be able to get some time to work in order to ensure their subsistence. In addition to physiotherapy and special education, children will benefit from an unconventional therapeutic method: pet therapy. Not only with common animals (horses, dogs…), but also with mini ponies, donkeys and soon alpacas.
They will help with physical movements and touch the hearts of children by stimulating all of their senses. The 25 kids in need will find a peaceful place in the center where they can develop positively, gain self-confidence and learn new skills. A place very different from their inhumane living conditions.
Children requiring therapy or special education will be accompanied by professionals in the buildings provided for this purpose. A swimming pool is also under construction so that children can enjoy hydrotherapy sessions. For even more fun, a summer slope has even been designed!
Not appearing on the plan, but will also be built: a first warehouse for construction materials, a second for medical equipment and a third for animal food. A workers' house in which a permanent employee can live with his family has already been renovated next to the farm.
Like her project in Tanzania, the architecture is entirely designed by Nicole. The special education building will look like a gigantic flower, the therapy building will be in the shape of a Mickey Mouse, and the children's homes will resemble the thatched-roof Smurfs' houses.
The center will hire therapeutic specialists as well as several disadvantaged and/or abused women. They will therefore benefit from social insurance and from a place where they can (re)build themselves. In total, more than 20 jobs will be created:
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14 trained specialists: 4 nursing assistants, 2 physiotherapists, 2 specialized educators, 1 speech therapist, 1 nurse, 1 social assistant, 1 cook, 2 drivers
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8 semi-qualified employees: 4 nursing assistants, 1 housekeeper, 1 animal educator, 1 gardener, 1 guard
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3 volunteers: will provide additional support for children and staff
The realization of this project is planned as follows:
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Phase 1: November 2020 - February 2021
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Acquisitions and training of therapy animals
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Construction of the hydrotherapy pool, the playground, trampoline and summer slope
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Realization of building plans
The goal is to welcome the first children for ½ days of care and support in spring 2021.
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Phase 2: May 2021 - April 2022
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Construction of 4 children homes
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Construction of a large kitchen
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Building of dependencies
After completion of this work, the custody of 25 children requiring comprehensive care will be possible throughout the day.
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Phase 3: May 2022 - December 2022
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Construction of the therapy center
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Construction of the building dedicated to specialized education
In the meantime, therapy will still be possible in the other buildings of the farm.
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Because it is always easier to get an idea with images, the association has uploaded several videos available on the HumanDreams Youtube channel. You can also take a look at the NGO's website if you want to know more.
Our experience (tasks and activities)
It is in her red combi-van and accompanied by Juma and Julie that Nicole comes to pick us up at the parking lot of a Windhoek bar. You can't miss it in the middle of these standardized white 4x4s. Clearly, we only see that! And to go even more unnoticed, we have to push the van so that it can restart. “Oh yeah, sometimes it's annoying, I can't take Julie to school because of that,” Nicole laughs. Welcome to the baba cools! We're not going to get bored, that's for sure!
We stop at a small supermarket on the road to buy some food for the next few days, not forgetting to park on a slope of course. We would not want to push the car in the torrential rain that decides to fall on us ...
Then it’s time for the long-awaited meeting with our small Namibian farm and its tenants ...
During our week at the farm, we are an integral part of the life of this atypical family to say the least. Nicole teaches us a lot about life in the slums of Windhoek. She informs us that conditions are extremely difficult there, more so than in other countries (including Tanzania). We are shocked, she who has seen so many atrocities and injustices... Indeed, she explains to us that elsewhere, the inhabitants are authorized to exercise small “trades” like selling fruits or vegetables on the side of the road. Here in Namibia, everything is restricted by the government and everything must remain visibly “clean”. Slum dwellers are not even allowed a window, only tin. Needless to say, these homes can turn very quickly into real furnaces... Nicole is direct: a government that can and does not change the lives of these people is a crime against humanity. Let's not talk about children with disabilities, who are not even considered by society.
We help her with some administrative tasks, such as translating her brochure from German to English. However, we spend most of our time taking care of the animals: feeding them, brushing them and quite simply getting them used to human contact. I am in heaven, Marie is… how to put it? Not necessarily comfortable or in a place where she could exploit her full potential.
The goats Schnuki and Putzi, are delighted with their daily walk on a leash. Yes yes, on a leash. Well, it is rather them who take us for a walk... We will have to use all possible and unimaginable ploys to finally be able to catch them. Fortunately, they are cute, so we forgive them!
The mini ponies, Fridolin and Florina, are little cuties. We cuddle them as much as we can!
The donkeys, Jeronimo and Jenny, are just as good! They are curious, very playful and love hugs.
Even the turtles Mirabella, Cinderella and Rebellious are there…
The best for the end of course, Melody, the mare. I enjoy walking her. She has a rather fearful and lively temperament, but attentive. Pure moments of happiness.
Even Marie (almost) likes it. Sorry for the lack of photos, we were too busy ensuring her survival (that one of Marie, not the horse)!
As for the 4 dogs, Prince, Felix, Puma and Britty, they give us no respite. Fortunately, they make us laugh!
But...the ponies have decided to wander off the beaten track... Damn, the fence of the meadow is broken and it must be repaired. Fortunately, Bobette the handygirl is there. The roles are reversed and I listen to everything Marie tells me. On the program: natural wooden fences. And we are not pulling any punches!
For the rest, we have to fix poles into the ground with an ice ax and a hammer.
Only thing left is to put metal wire everywhere. I mean, "only thing left" means watching Marie sewing for countless hours with perfection at its peak!
Financing and future
Like many NGOs, Human Dreams e.V. is financed through donations. Nicole spends a large part of her time maintaining and developing her already substantial network (especially in Germany). She is actively and continuously looking for new sponsors. Last year, she traveled the roads of Europe in her Mini-Cooper and her trailer to raise funds to make her dreams come true and improve the living conditions of children in extreme pain.
Small donations are always welcome. She even has a brochure of gifts that can be given to the association. The giver can thus see the real purpose of his contribution.
Since July, the loan of € 70,000 for the purchase of her farm in Namibia has to be repaid monthly. In order to achieve the initially planned goal and create financial relief, a special “200 businesses for 1000 €” campaign has been set up. It aims to appeal to the largest contributors such as multinationals. Due to Covid, the association has so far not been able to meet the goals it set to achieve by the end of 2020.
If you are a person or a company and want to contribute to the project, you can donate directly to Human Dreams e.V. using the bank details below.
You can also visit the association's website and Facebook page, or contact us directly via our contact form.
Food for thoughts
It is important to realize that a country can be rich, but its inhabitants poor, because of an inequitable redistribution of its resources. In other words, creating wealth nationally does not mean that every citizen gets rich individually. Namibia is the perfect example. It is one of the richest African countries (GDP/capita). However, this statistic does not demonstrate its social reality. As explained above, the wealth is concentrated in the hands of whites representing only 8% of the population. Black populations therefore suffer from discrimination, not to mention the 5% of disabled people who are little or not considered at all.
Namibia is far from unique. Many societies, especially South countries, remain very unequal: a small, very rich and white minority, and a large poor and black majority. People with disabilities are also very often excluded from society for various reasons (lack of medical education, limited access to healthcare, karmic beliefs that people with disabilities are to blame for their disability, etc.). And if they are both black and disabled, their tragic fate is all mapped out...
Most of the time, they are forced to live in the streets because they are abandoned (or in a center with precarious conditions like the one where we did our humanitarian mission in Burma).
So as you read these sentences, you are probably saying to yourself, “ah what a shame to live rich in these countries and to do nothing to help your people!” or “how can they remain indifferent to everything around them?”
But what if we told you that we are not legitimate in our judgment? We invite you to see this from another angle... Let's see planet Earth as a single country. After all, it's our home, isn't it? Borders are only territorial boundaries invisible to the human species…
So now let's try to qualify this planet Earth as we would qualify any country: "rich", "developed", "poor", "underdeveloped" ... Difficult, isn't it? Why?
Because the world we live in is as unequal as Namibia. Indeed, 0.7% of the world population owns 45.2% of the wealth. 71% own 3% (Oxfam, 2020).
Regarding staggering racial inequalities, did you know that in a country considered rich and developed like the United States, African-Americans are 2.5 times more likely than whites to be killed by the police (NAS, 2019 )? A study by the National Registry of Exonerations (2017) also shows that for drug-related crimes, innocent black people are 12x more likely to be convicted than white people.
Finally, you might be surprised to know that 15% of the world's population suffers from disabilities. They have also been defined by the United Nations as "the largest minority in the world". It's up to you to realize that people are not only severely discriminated against in underdeveloped countries…
Source: WORLD Policy Analysis Center, 2016
So if you too find all of this unfair ... If you understand that being born white, healthy, in a rich and developed country is a privilege... Then use that freedom to speak out. Share this article. Educate yourself. Help your loved ones to understand. Discriminated, some people cannot fight alone to assert their rights.