Generous Audley clients help children in Namibia & Botswana
School children with their new books
Clients who recently returned from Botswana and Namibia have very generously donated the refund from their cancelled hot-air balloon trip to two very worthy causes. A donation of this kind really makes a difference!
Half the donation went to the Purros School Project in Namibia which was founded to provide education in an underdeveloped and under resourced part of Namibia. The remote area of Purros on the Skeleton Coast in the far north west of Namibia previously had no school and the children had to travel 120km to the nearest one in Sesfontein. The school in Sesfontein had no boarding facilities and parents generally have very little money, so unless the children had relatives in Sesfontein many were unable to attend school. As a result, many of the Himba and Herero children of Purros received no or very little education. The Namibian government will not support such an isolated school and the school is therefore solely dependent on the generosity of sponsors for the school to function.
The rest of the donation went to Children in the Wilderness (Botswana), a project that supports both local communities and the environments they live in. The overall aim of this project is to offer children whose childhoods have been disrupted by life threatening conditions such as illness, poverty and HIV/AIDS a six day educational programme staying in a Wilderness Safaris camp, all totally free of charge. This programme combines conservation, environmental education, arts and crafts, health education and recreation in a uniq u e environment. In addition, the programme is designed to increase self-esteem, teaching new skills and knowledge. The fundamental objectives of the programme are also reinforced through the support of Wilderness staff in the local communities.
