Festus, 11, from Windhoek in Namibia - A mother and child from Malawi
We all live in the same world, but it almost seems difficult to believe when you see the life of an inner city child in London UK in contrast to their counterpart in One Nation – a shanty town in Windhoek, Namibia.
- “Worlds apart:Festus’s life in Namibia”
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Kevin Philemon, Video Editor, SOS Children UK
We all live in the same world, but it almost seems difficult to believe when you see the life of an inner city child in London UK in contrast to their counterpart in One Nation – a shanty town in Windhoek, Namibia.
Take yourself back to when you were 11 years old and imagine that you had to go school as well as maintain a job, with little to no time to play with a friend.
This was life for Festus, 11, from Windheok, who had to balance the responsibilities of bringing in an income for his two little sisters and his mother, with his education, in order to put food on the table.
Festus’s family is now supported by SOS Children’s Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) in Namibia. They are given clothes and his sisters can now go to school. His mother has even found a job at the local nursery thanks to SOS Children’s support.
Festus still feels a whole world of responsibility for the well-being of his family. When we gave treats to children who were involved in our latest film project ‘Our Africa’, the majority immediately got high on a sugar rush. However, when Festus received his bottle of cola and a bag of sweets, he put them aside and said “I will enjoy this with my family”. It’s a cliché that you shouldn’t take the little things for granted, but witnessing the saying in person would make even the strongest of hearts sink.
For a lot of poverty-stricken families around the world, their children are the only hope of breaking out and making a better life for themselves. The SOS Family Strengthening Programmes not only help parents maintain a decent standard of living, they also provide children with the opportunity to receive an education. If there is anything that the children in these situations cherish more than anything, it’s succeeding in education, and that’s the biggest thing that many parts of the world take for granted.
In the West, most of us (myself included) merely use an education as a tool to survive and live in the world. Compare this to Festus, who says he is trying his hardest with his education because he has the aim “to change the world”.
Find out more about SOS Children’s Family Strengthening Programmes and how you can help more children receive an education.
- "“I would like to draw an analogy between my children and foreign aid in Malawi”
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Martin Brooke, Volunteer with SOS Children in Malawi
Our daughter is 22 years old and at university. She has a car, a ‘DBI’, which stands for “daddy bought it”.
She often limps back from university with an empty tank to refill and puts most of her petrol on my account at the garage near our home, which is fine by me.
However, the time is now coming when she needs to become independent, get a holiday job, pay for her own petrol and break free. Otherwise, I will still be supporting her and she will have no need to stand on her own two feet. Whilst she takes on this change she will still need our emotional support, her own room in her home, and her parents.
Malawi has had her independence for 50 years or so, but she is absolutely not independent, psychologically, for some of the people who live there. Daddy is still buying the petrol and this needs to surely change, slowly, with the gradual withdrawal of aid. But, like our daughter still needing a home and parents, so Malawi needs continuing support, particularly in its health and educational sectors, as these are key areas which she is beginning to sustain from within.
The legacy of long-term dependence is best shown in Malawi’s agriculture. Food-wise, there is just one staple crop – maize, grown year after year on the same fields. I can only assume that in the past there has either been a donation, or a subsidising of, bagged fertiliser. This has led to a mind-set in much of the nation that reads; “harvest the crop, burn all that is left, throw on more fertiliser for next year”. This has resulted in no organic matter going back into the ground, leading to the degradation of soil quality and consecutively poorer crops. It is a huge task to challenge this mindset and change agricultural practices.
Food hand-outs still happen. NGO’s are known as the guys in the big white 4-wheel drives and there are lots of them. However, the Malawian is an intelligent, hard working individual and at some stage, they must stand up to the plate.
Martin, an NHS associate specialist in pediatrics, is currently volunteering at the SOS Medical Centre in Blantyre, Malawi, where 21,000 people are treated every year.
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