Home of Good Hope
Name of Organization: Home of Good Hope in Namibia Foundation   Website: www.homeofgoodhope.ngo    Mission: “To raise a community from poverty through the provision of food, health care, and education to children of the Katutura township, Namibia”   Vision Statement: “Our vision is for a Namibia where every child will reach their maximum potential for growth and development”   History of the Organization: Eileen Greene, a Canadian Nurse met Monica Imanga at Katutura Hospital in Namibia while Eileen cared for Monica’s beautiful 16 year-old daughter Maria who died of AIDS. Monica and Eileen became friends. In 2007 they started a “soup kitchen”, in memory of Maria. They called it The Home of Good Hope, and began with a view to providing food for about 40 children in the local community who were HIV-positive. Eileen personally provided the funding and Monica did the cooking for the soup kitchen in her own small home. Monica transported the food by local taxi to children in the nearby impoverished township of Katutura. At that time they had no structure in which to serve the food, so it was doled out as the children squatted on the side of the road. Soon they found that there were many other children in the neighborhood who were going hungry so they invited them to join in on the one meal a day they were able to provide.   As the years passed, the numbers of these children grew to several hundred and the cost of the program became more than Eileen could personally support, so she started fund raising in Victoria, BC. The soup kitchen continued to feed the neighbourhood children one nutritionally balanced meal a day but with limited resources meals were restrict to children between 18 months and 15 years of age as the community’s most vulnerable.   Meals were served Monday through Friday but a number of children were not eating anything from the Friday meal until Monday of the next week. The feeding program was increased from 5 days a week to 7 days a week so that children received one cooked meal per day on weekdays, and sandwiches on the weekend. A small structure was constructed on borrowed land at the side of the road where children could sit out of the elements to eat. Today upwards of 600 individual children are fed in that small shelter by the side of the road.   Over time the original nutritional focus of The Home of Good Hope expanded in response to the recognized barriers to health and education faced by these children. The eating space was also used for after school non-formal education, recreational activities and health focused activities delivered by visiting volunteer health professionals. In addition to services offered on site, The Home of Good Hope provided health care and educational support though school supplies, transport, organized sporting activities, and scholarships. Wherever possible, human resources, goods, and services from the local community were used The Home of Good Hope projects to generate income for adults in the community.   While The Home of Good Hope remains committed to continue the work it is doing, it has become increasingly clear that the nutritional, health and educational needs of children in Katutura are greater than the current level of service that The Home of Good Hope can provide in terms of physical structure, support staff, and financial resources. In being determined to meet this greater need, the Home of Good Hope in Namibia Foundation was Incorporated by Eileen Greene as a Canada Not-for-Profit in 2016 Greene to generate the funds needed to support a sustainable vision for The Home of Good Hope.
Posted by: The Home of Good Hope in Namibia Foundation on April 23, 2017.
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