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IN
THIS ISSUE
Welcome
Friends and Supporters
Please take a few moments to see what is new at MYO
From
The Field
Barvely
Von Luttichou
–
Field Operations Manager/Tennis Program Manager
More tournaments, more success for MYO's tennis players!
Shannon
Taylor – Academic Program Manager
Instilling a love of reading in MYO students
The 2007 MYO Volunteers – Prepping for Their
Adventure
A hearty welcome to Beau, Casey, and Alexis
From MYO
Australia
Lisa Chee
– MYO
Board Member
Catch up with the latest MYO happenings in Australia
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Welcome
Friends and Supporters |
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Friends...
Very soon we will enter
the third and final term for the 2006 school year. It is
hard to believe but our next newsletter will be our next
to the last for the year.
Shannon will complete her
tour of duty as academic manager in December, and
Beverly plans to attend university full time next
year—they have been so critical to our growth and
development that it will be sad to see them move on. The
good news is that we have three great new volunteers
lined up to take over next year’s operations. I have
included a short bio and photo of our 2007 crew in this
issue, so please have a look.
Next year will bring the
greatest challenges we have faced to date. In addition
to adding an additional 30 grade 4 children, bringing
our total to over 100 students, we will begin
construction on our youth education and activity
facility in May or June. So much remains to be finished
before we are ready to take that step that it is
daunting, but we have to make this happen. Once our
facility is completed at the end of 2007, we will spend
2008 working to finalize our infrastructure and
long-term organizational structure.
While these objectives
extend 12-24 months ahead of us, our ability to execute
against our business plan and successfully complete
these steps is dependent on how we perform in
fundraising over the next 12 months.
While we were very
fortunate to attract the support of The Noble Foundation
in 2006, another of our larger donors has withdrawn
their support after this year to focus on other
projects. It is imperative that we continue to sign on
Youth Sponsorship supporters as well as attract
additional supporters who can participate at moderate to
significant levels of support. In the end, our ultimate
success lies in expanding our circle of support
significantly and that will only come if we can convert
some of our passive supporters to active campaigners for
our cause. It seems ironic that in spite of the massive
media coverage of poverty in Southern Africa and
Namibia, we continue to struggle to get the levels of
support we need, but I have faith we will persevere. I
know of no other charity that operates with the
efficiency or effectiveness of MYO, and I spend a lot of
time researching what others are doing.
Finding the right balance
in applying our limited resources between long-term
planning and daily operational objectives is not always
easy, but so far I think we are hitting the mark. The
board and global support group is working very hard to
attract new funding partners and create long-term
infrastructure, while our operations team delivers our
programming every day to a very high standard of
quality. Shannon and Vera’s successes in the classroom
are evident by the teacher and parent feedback we are
receiving. Beverly’s story about the success of our kids
against the private tennis academy is dramatic. 3 years
ago there was not more than handful of black or colored
tennis players in Coastal Namibia competing in National
level tournaments—now there are over a hundred and MYO
students are competing effectively against the more
established programs. These are vital signs that we are
achieving success in our efforts to bring these children
to a new level of development that will allow them
opportunities to break themselves out of the cycle of
poverty.
Eric Weiss, a graduate
student in African Studies at Ohio University has
recently completed gathering data for a formal
evaluation of our program results. We will post the
results from Eric’s study on our website once it is
completed.
Enjoy our update, and
please, continue to spread the word of MYO and to
encourage others to check us out and get involved. We
are truly changing our corner of the world and that
seems worthy of our time.
PEACE – Rob
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From The Field |
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Barvely
Von Luttichou - Field Operations Manager/Tennis Program
Manager MYO
hosted a mini tennis tournament for the grade 4’s, and it
was a great success. The Ruimte Primary school from
Rehoboth won the tournament and Vrede Rede Primary school
(MYO) were the runners up. This tournament was the grade
4’s first tournament ever played and they had a lot of
fun. We had great support from the parents and the
community.
Nikodemus collects
his medal in the grade 4 tournament
The grades 4’s have now
moved on from mini-tennis to full court and they are
really excited about it. They are a very enthusiastic
group and very eager to learn more about tennis.
Due to a shortage of
tournaments in Swakopmund, Dolfy Duwet a local tennis
professional from Warren’s Tennis School and MYO
co-sponsored a tennis tournament between our two
organizations.
MYO vs. Warren’s Tennis
School tournament was a big accomplishment for the MYO
team. Last year, we played against Swakopmund Tennis
Academy and only one player from the MYO team won. This
year however, MYO had eight winners against 12 winners
from Warren’s Tennis School. This is a terrific result for
our program against a well-funded, private tennis academy.
It was a fun day and good
integration between the two organizations.
Winners in the
tournament against Warren’s Tennis School |
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From The Field |
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Shannon
Taylor – Academic Program Manager
The
Fruits of Our Labour
We have finished the second
term of the school year in Namibia and we are entering a
much needed school holiday for all. As part of our
continued efforts at MYO to stay in connection with the
school system in Namibia, each term we visit all of our
participating schools to gain feedback on the children in
our program from the teachers. I am happy to report that
the fruits of our labor are becoming apparent. The
following comments and observations are direct quotes from
teachers and parents:
“These
are the learners that come forward now and teach the
others. It [MYO] broadens their confidence. Now, they take
the lead in the class.”
– Mrs. Johanna Bingham -
Festus Gonteb Primary School
“Sometimes at home, he (Helao
Gr. 5) teaches me things that I don’t know.”
– Mrs. Mathias - Hanganeni
Primary School and MYO parent
“I was amazed that Paulina
already knows things like plot, setting, and character
development. The other learners can’t do that.”
– Mrs. Matengu - Festus
Gonteb
“These kids are mentally
broadened. They have different approaches to learning
now,”
– Mrs. Ipinge - Atlantic
Junior Secondary School
“Now, when she [Mary]
finishes her school work, she pulls out a book from the
MYO library and starts reading.”
– Teacher - Tamariskia
Primary school
“David comes home and reads
now. He never did that before. He is enjoying reading!”
– Mr. Klazen - Tamariskia
Primary School and MYO parent
Nikodemus studies
his notes to identify animals
At times it can be difficult
to quantify the effects MYO is having on the children. It
is nice to be reminded that we are not only teaching the
kids math, English, and tennis skills, but also providing
them with the confidence, leadership, motivation,
commitment and appreciation for education—all things
important for them to become successful, compassionate and
engaged individuals. The things we are teaching are
translating to all aspects of their lives. We recently
received a letter from one MYO participant about a problem
she was having with her peers. In the letter she stated,
“I want to show people that I am a real MYO member.” The
message we are sending to the kids is clear, and I am
proud to say that it is taking hold.
Intense notetaking
at the Gobabeb Desert Environmental Center
The grade 5 class went on a
camping trip to Etosha National Park and for most this was
their first time to visit Etosha. They had a grand time
seeing the animals of Namibia up close and we were lucky
to see an elephant less than a meter away while we were on
foot. In addition to games drives, we visited the reptile
park, enjoyed the Naumutoni Lodge swimming pool, braai’s
(bar-b-q’s), roasted marshmallows, and had our very own
MYO talent show!
The elephant is as
curious of our kids as we are of it
The winners this term for
MYO’s Reading Challenge are David Klazen and Frieda Mukufa
(Grade 6) and David Penda and Chief Thomas (Grade 5). It
was a close contest among all the students but these
children accumulated the most points by reading the most
books and successfully completed book reports.
Congratulations to these scholars! |
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From The Field |
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The
2007 MYO Volunteers – Preparing for Their Adventure
Next
year’s volunteers are busy preparing for their role as
teachers in next year’s program. In addition to our basic
programs, we plan to introduce at least two intramural
level sports to offer alternatives to tennis and we will
also begin offering leadership and more formal life-skills
curriculum to our older students in next year’s program.
We could
not be more thrilled with the fantastic crew we have lined
up to take over next year’s operations. They are talented,
enthusiastic, and obviously committed to the core values
of MYO.
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Beau Husfloen
Beau is 24 years old and was born
and raised in Boise, Idaho. He graduated with High Honors from
Idaho State University in May 2006 with degrees in French and
International Studies. Beau received the Outstanding Student
Achievement Award for Humanities in his final year at ISU. He
has traveled extensively throughout Europe including living and
teaching for two years in Nantes, France at High School and
University levels.
Beau's interests lie primarily in
foreign policy issues and foreign affairs and he is specifically
intrigued with the current environment in Africa around such
issues as development and HIV/AIDS.
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Casey De Kalb
Casey is 23 years old and is
finishing her second year of Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of
Arts at the University of Newcastle located in New South Wales,
Australia. She is an avid reader and writer of poetry and short
stories which fuels her desire to teach English. She also loves
to draw, paint and pursue creative arts.
Casey has traveled extensively
throughout Europe, Northern Africa and Asia-Pacific and loves to
experience the world, and explore different cultures and
perspectives.
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Alexis Hillyard
Alexis has a background in music and education and she believes
wholeheartedly in lifelong learning. She received her
undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta in 2005 and
since then has participated actively in choir while helping to
organize the 2006 Mascato Youth Choir tour to Canada. Her love
of music and education brought her to Namibia as an exchange
student during the summer of 2005, and the children from MYO
coupled with the brilliance of this African nation have called
her to return to Namibia this January. |
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From MYO Australia |
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Lisa Chee - MYO
Board Member and Australasia Regional Coordinator
In July
we held our second fundraiser in Australia – a MYO Tapas
and Trivia night. The evening was full of fun and
entertainment – an MYO introduction, the 2007 MYO calendar
launch, trivia and also a very successful auction with
prizes generously donated by Pernod-Ricard. It was
particularly exciting as the bidding of the prizes went
higher and higher – which was great for us. We are proud
to say that all funds raised from our evening have been
allocated directly to operating costs in Namibia. I would
like to say a special thanks to the Australia team (and
friends) who continue to spread the MYO word and
contribute their time and energy to raising funds for our
program in Namibia.
I recently spent some time in Tanzania, another
poverty-stricken African country - it was an eye-opening
experience. It also highlighted to me how critical
programs like our own – long-term education and youth
development programs – are to providing youth in poverty,
with skills and positive behaviours that will ultimately
help with making better choices and provide opportunities
out of poverty. I am proud to be involved with MYO, a
program that continues to make a difference in the lives
of our kids. Lisa
Chee |
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