For People and Planet
Village Schools Project
Supporting the Ju/’hoansi Development Fund, we are committed to funding and building five entry-level mother tongue Village Schools in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in Nambia. These are built with our own BauPanel Systems technology and include classrooms, hostels, teacher accommodation, kitchen and ablution facilities. The schools will be fully equipped with solar panels, water tanks and furniture.
The Ju/’hoansi (San) Bushmen, are some of the earliest inhabitants and the last remaining members of an indigenous hunter-gatherer culture that spread over most of the Southern-African subcontinent. Small groups with distinctly different languages now live in dispersed and isolated locations in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Like many indigenous peoples around the world, the Ju/‘hoansi Bushmen are currently experiencing drastic social change, extreme marginalisation and poverty.
With an approximate population of 36, 000 the Ju/’hoansi in Namibia make up 1,8% of the national population. Their lack of group organisation, education in their own languages, knowledge of their own human rights and under-representation in local and national decision-making processes, puts them in an extremely vulnerable position. It is also important to emphasise that the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen still rely heavily on cultural knowledge and skills for their survival. The gathering of fruits, nuts, roots and leaves from the environment provides food and medicine for Ju/’hoan communities. Hunting by traditional methods is also still permitted.
The delivery of education in the Nyae Nyae region is logistically complicated. Remote locations, long distances, inadequate school facilities, food and equipment are challenges to quality education. Inadequate accommodation for teachers and learners negates any positive effect teachers might have in the classroom, particularly where boarding learners and teachers continue to sleep in tents and classrooms.
Service delivery to schools in the form of school supplies, blankets, basic foods and support is extremely poor, with no organised transport system. Moreover, young children often have to walk long distances from school to home and back, and are frequently confronted by elephants and other wild animals.
The new Village School Project will provide safe learning and sleeping environments for the young generations of the Ju/’hoansi community to thrive.
The Franciscan Hospice
The Franciscan Hospice at Palma de Gandia, provides a home and nursing care for up to 50 homeless men, many of whom are elderly and suffer from mental or physical illness. These men would otherwise be on the streets and unlike to survive without this special care. Admission is solely on the basis of need. All nationalities and all religions (or none) are accepted. The Franciscan Brothers, care for the residents around the clock. Daiken helps with donations of food and essential supplies such as clothing and medicine for the Hospice residents.
