OUR HISTORY
Nestled between beautiful trees and lush vegetation, you will find Nakayale Academy for Orphans and Marginalised Children. The school, located in Etunda in the western Omusati Region of Namibia, opened its doors in January 2016 with 60 students, offering free tuition and boarding on the 50 hectares of land donated by the Western Diocese of ELCIN.
Nakayale Academy for Orphans and Marginalised Children is a unique institution, the only facility to take in children from this remote region, who have been seriously neglected, without access to education, healthcare, clean water and proper feeding and provide them with full board and lodging, clothing, medical care, sports training, art, music and exposure to the world beyond their village.
Enrolment is 100 percent free of charge and learners are exposed to the highest standard of education through partnership with St Paul’s College. Currently there are 104 students and 10 teachers, a principal, hostel manager, 11 kitchen- and cleaning staff members, 1 gardener, 3 maintenance and 4 security people. The school boasts 8 classrooms, girls and boys’ dormitories, a school hall that is the centre of activity, a kitchen area that serves balanced and nutritious food, to the staff and students.
The education system is based on the learner centred, rotation learning model with one teacher per 15 children in a class, allowing for continuous student-teacher engagement. The programme was developed and adapted for the specific context of these children, such as a complete lack of comprehension of the English language and no form of preschool exposure.
Due to the specific fundamentals of the system developed for and implemented at Nakayale, which involves specialised bridging programmes, the children learn basic English reading within the first 6 weeks of enrolment. The teachers at the school are all from the region and receive extensive training and ongoing support from the Director of Nakayale Academy for Orphans and Marginalised Children, Carmen de Villiers. The teachers are also provided with free accommodation, healthcare, nutritional meals and a safe environment and are required to enrol and study towards formal teaching qualifications as part of their employment agreement.
Under the watchful eyes of the headmaster and dedicated staff, the students are lovingly supported and guided towards functioning optimally and eventually becoming the masters of their destinies.
Challenge
The remote villages in the deep rural areas of Namibia are extremely poor, illiterate and cut off from the world. Locked in a perpetual loop of archaic existence, they are so far away from the nearest school that the distance cannot be covered twice a day and children simply fall off the grid of society, unable to realise their potential and deprived of any possibility to ever change the trajectory of their communal destiny. By implication the collateral socio-economic damage of poverty and ignorance is the status quo: hunger, alcoholism and violence, inhumane traditional customs and rituals, sexual abuse and a stolen life.
Solution
The only way to break the cycle and give the children a chance to change their destinies, is to provide a safe, nurturing and enabling environment where they are protected from all the elements and introduced to a holistic education, care and development programme that includes first-class education, healthcare, clean, running water, sanitation, nutritional food, clothing, medical care, sports training, art, music and exposure to the world beyond their village. This requires complete, 360-degree, full time care of these children for the entire academic year. Nakayale Academy for Orphans and Marginalised Children is not a school. It is a living, growing experiment of possibility and an incubator of hope.
Long-Term Impact
In addition to transforming the lives and creating a future for the children of the school, communities and families have been inspired by the substantial transformation that they witness in the children who attend the school. More importantly, Nakayale Academy for Orphans and Marginalised Children is developing a credible, internationally recognised model for education for marginalised children in rural Africa with a documented, proven records of success, the end result being secondary school certification that is on par with the best in the world. Proving that it is possible to train teachers without formal qualifications on the job, whilst assisting them to study towards formal teaching qualifications as part of their employment agreement can change perceptions about perceived challenges that prevents education from happening in rural areas for marginalised communities. The effect reaches far beyond the school itself, with Nakayale providing support to other teachers in the region who often have to work in isolation, many of them under trees with no learning material or resources. Nakayale assists with basic physical resources, training and support through a whatsapp network where possible.
OUR VISION & MISSION
To create a society free of exploitation, discrimination and violence, to enable it to reach its ultimate socioeconomic potential.
To bring about substantial improvement in the lives of disadvantaged people/children with special emphasis on their education and nourishment.