Krumhuk Newsletter May 2024

Dear friends of Aris Primary School!

The year at our small boarding school got off to a good start in January with the new school year. There are 157 children at the boarding school, 143 of whom attend the school and 14 the kindergarten. In the boarding school, 6 teachers and a caretaker look after the children. In the school, 7 teachers teach from Year 1 to Year 7.

It was exciting for the children to see the first solar panels for PV electricity being installed on the roofs. Thanks to many donors from last year, we were able to build the first phase of PV power with the first €12,000. Now we are still waiting for the grid electricity provider to approve the PV system. This should finally happen soon. This will then cover around 30% of our electricity consumption, which means around 30% less monthly electricity expenditure. We are continuing to collect money so that we will one day be almost completely independent of the electricity grid. At this point, a big thank you to the donors who have made this possible!

A brand new project is medical care for the children at the boarding school/school. Thanks to our doctor Dr Clara Ahlenstorf, who lives right next to the school in Aris, the children now receive regular medical care on the school grounds. This was absolutely necessary, as the state clinic, which only comes once a month, is not sufficient to care for the children’s many health needs.

This means that Clara can take care of bedwetting, traumatised children and the various health problems that keep cropping up. Here, too, there were some very kind donors who made the initial investment in this project possible.

A big thank you to them!

But the continuation of this medical care remains dependent on further regular donations. Unfortunately, there is no support from the Namibian state here either and the parents of the children cannot afford the care. The alternative was and still is state medical care, but this can only handle a fraction of the needs and unfortunately often not very professionally. It would therefore be very important to us to be able to continue this new project to improve children’s health.

Then a long-awaited wish finally came true: a small new greenhouse was built on the grounds thanks to a donation from the Bildstiftung e.V. – ‘A Heart for Children’. Now the children can learn how to garden and grow their own vegetables for the boarding school kitchen. This is also a great leisure activity for them and a good additional source of nutrition from biodynamic gardening.

Almost regularly, twice a week, a minibus from the Pack Safari travel company comes to the school and shows its guests around the school and the boarding school. As a result, donations are received and last year the buildings were renovated. Here too, special thanks to Chamäleon Reisen.
We are always very grateful for the many kind people who support our project and help these needy children. What a great investment in the future of Namibia!

Banking Details for Donations: Freundeskreis Krumhuk e.V.
GLS Gemeinschaftsbank
IBAN: DE70 4306 0967 2003 7951 00
BIC: GENODEM1GLS

With best wishes
also from all the children, carers and teachers

Ulf-Dieter Voigts
in May 2024