CASA ANGELO, CENTER FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN MANGETTI DUNE, BUSHMANLAND, NAMIBIA

The Casa Angelo aims to offer, in line with local traditions, an education and care to local children in a children's centre with a pre-primary school (Kindergarten) and an orphanage. The Centre is able to accommodate a 16 orphans and about 30 pupils for the pre-primary school. We are going to introduce you where is the centre, how it is organized and who are the children.

BUSHMANLAND

Bushmanland is located on the western fringe of the Kalahari Desert in the north-eastern corner of Namibia, a country in the south-western part of Africa with an area of 825'000 square kilometres and 1,8 million inhabitants. It covers an area of 18'000 square kilometres and contains a total population of approximately 6'000 people. Until 1960 the region was virtually uninhabited except in the eastern part where the Ju/'hoansi bushmen have been living for thousand of years. The Bushmen (SAN) are one of the oldest people of your planet. Originally nomads, they were forced to adopt to a sedentary lifestyle during the colonization of Africa. Since 1960, several events have transformed the region, from a predominantly hunter-gathering society, to the present mix of different population groups and diverse economy, combining crop farming, livestock production, cash incomes, food-aid and hunting and gathering.
The SAN-people (formerly called Bushmen) live in 50 different villages which are scattered all over the area. The district hosts 8 primary village schools, 1 small hospital, 2 days-clinics, a forestry research station and a hunting lodge for tourists.

MANGETTI DUNE

Mangetti Dune lies more or less in the centre of Bushmanland. It has a population of 300 inhabitants of which 260 Bushmen

CASA ANGELO

Until 2002, Mangetti Dune had no Kindergarten, day care centres or orphanages to take care of children of pre-school age.

On the initiative of the local doctor, Melitta Bosshart (Swiss origin) in charge of the 6'000 district inhabitants health, who hosted the orphans in the hospital, an orphanage and kindergarten have been built.

A building located between the hospital and the school has been made available by the Namibian government. Thanks to the generous financial support of the Rotary Club Oberer Zurichsee (Switzerland), Rotary International (USA), Rotary Club Otjiwarango (Namibia) as well as a donation by a private individual, the building has been renovated.
The centre was officially opened in April 2002. 2 local girls, identified by Mangetti's community and trained by Mrs Elna Oosthuizen, are looking after 30 children, aged 5-7. At the orphanage, one governess lives with 16 children, aged 1-18.

MANAGEMENT OF THE CENTRE

A committee of members of the Mangetti Dune community is in charge of supervising and managing the centre :

Reverend Herman Oosthuizen and his wife Elna Oosthuizen
Rev. and Mrs Oosthuizen have been directly involved in local development projects in Bushmanland aver past 20 years and are currently stationed in Mangetti Dune

Dr Melitta Bosshart
Dr Bosshart a Swiss doctor, has been working as a medical doctor in Namibia since 1989, first as a physician of the UN blue helmet troops, and since March 1990 as senior medical officer for Bushmanland.

Sir Sara Sungu. Is one of the senior traditional leaders of western Bushmanland, elected by the people, approved and appointed by the government as local authorities.

Mrs Tina Kaleyi and Mrs Kasibi Bamba, two mothers out of the community

KINDERGARTEN - PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOL

Before the opening of the Kindergarten, children under the age of pre-school age (under 7) stayed with their families all day long, or, as it was most often the case, where left to play by themselves or with other children in the village.
By the time they entered school, very few children had been exposed to a structural schedule or scholastic discipline and they usually received very little support from their parents, the large majority of whom have never attended school themselves. As a direct consequence, the children often skip classes, grades suffer and many drop out of school before completing primary school. The goal of the pre-primary school is to prepared the children by gently acclimatizing them to an environment of structured group activities and providing them with an enriching learning opportunity. The children are guided by skilled personnel, trained and supervised by Mrs Oosthuizen. The children receive a hot meal for lunch.

ORPHANAGE

The orphanage houses 16 children whose mothers have passed away and whose families cannot or do not want to support them. Those between 5-7 attend the pre-primary school, those over the age of 7 attend school on a regular basis. The oldest 2 are, since January 2004, at a boarding school in Grootfontein, the nearest town, 205 km west of Mangetti Dune.
Below you will find a brief profile of the children, this according to their arrival at the Casa Angelo :

Louisa DI/XAO 12.10.1999

Kxoara II'AO 7.10.1997

Runguro HAIKERA 23.04.1996

And her brother Tame HAIKERA 6.06.1998

Dominga PETRUS 22.12.1988

Atania KAMEJA 21.06.1992 half sister of Dominga

Marengua HAUSHIKU 15.02.2000

Frits KHUMA 3.12.1994

G/aq'o KHAN//AN 17.08.2000

And her brother /Kaece KHAN//AN 10.01.2003

Stanley PETRUS 18.09.1991

Alfredo Utsile le 30.03.1996

Helena Shee le 16.10.1993

Absalom Mundilo le 31.08.2004

Kouka Oza le 28.06.2000

Nao Oza le 17.11.2002 half sister of Kouka

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

The building construction costs have been provided.

The children's centre relies exclusively on donations to cover the operational costs (CHF 30'000 per year) of providing food, shelter and care as no subsidy is received :

The cost per child and year are currently :

CHF 350 per child/year at the pre-primary school (incl. 1 meal and school uniform)

CHF 1'100 per child/year in the orphanage (incl. Room and board, clothing, education)

We invite you to contribute to this project by sponsoring a child. Your donation will be used entirely for expenses related to the child, with no administrative overhead. Only the teachers at the pre-primary school as well as governess at the orphanage are getting paid, all other persons involved and helping the project are doing it for free. You will receive regular updates on the development of the project and the activities of the centre, and if you so wish, the activities and progress of your sponsored child.
See also www.casaangelo.org

On the behalf of the children of Bushmanland, we thank you already in advance for your involvement.

Your donation can be made through transfer of funds to the following account :

Postal account :

account name Mangetti Orphagage - Kindergarten Bosshart

account number 30-178273-7 1700 Freiburg (Switzerland)

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact

Dr. Melitta Bosshart
P.O. Box 42
Grootfontein - Namibie

Mireille Marty
Chemin du Pont Noir 3
1226 - Thônex tél. 022.342.74.46

Louis Bosshart
Kleinschoenberg 65
1700 - Fribourg tél. 026.481.19.77

Herbert Bosshart
Rosenaustrasse 10
9200 - Gossau tél. 071.385.71.63

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