Mace Project Manager Works on Charitable Project in Namibia
Media
25/08/2008
Peter McIlhagger, a project manager based at Mace's Manchester office, has been busy performing some valuable charity projects in Namibia, South Africa, working alongside friends James and Helen Frazer from AIM International. Armed with over £8,500 of charitable donations, Peter travelled out to help schools in Opuwo (500km north of the capital Windhoek right in the desert) where residents have very little and the pupils often sleep on bare metal frames with the choice of sleeping either on their blanket (if they have one) or under it.
The schools Peter visited were in a terrible state of repair: "The dormitory to the girls room had a hole in the ceiling the size of a double bed. As well as serving the purpose of shelter and security, in Africa the ceiling keeps the scorpions from dropping down onto sleeping children. The lack of mattresses, blankets and life saving mosquito/scorpion nets was devastating."
One week later, and after some hard negotiation and shopping, Peter and his friends were able to turn up with a truck full of nets and blankets. Peter said: "We travelled all over the country to get sufficient quantities before we could deliver. The joy on their faces when we arrived was indescribable. Each child was so proud to have their own blanket that they insisted in me taking every one of their photograph! But it wasn't all shopping, I got to do some 'design and build' as well!"
A Dutch physiotherapist working at the local hospital explained to Peter and James that there was equipment she needed for rehabilitation sessions. They therefore drew up a school design which would also double up as a playground for the children of the paediatric ward. The locals seemed surprised to find their visitor not only paying for the materials but also helping to build.
Peter then made a visit to a local hearing impaired school, run by deafness charity CLaSH (Children with Language Speech and Hearing Impairments of Namibia), located in the capital city Windhoek. The organisation provides education using hearing aids and sign language, with ten children taught by two deaf teachers. It was frustrating to learn that the children had to leave the hearing aids at the school as people often mistook them for iPods and so they often got stolen. Previous funding had come from Comic Relief but when that ran out the school has had to renew its efforts to finance the children's education and travel.
In total the team of three used the funds raised to buy 400 mattresses, 500 blankets, 1,000 mosquito nets and donated £1,600 to CLaSH deaf school for transport and teaching.
More about CLaSH:
http://www.natron.net/clash/main.html
