Mayana Community Projects

N’Kwazi Lodge, Namibia 12 – 30 July 2010

The community of H.I.S. are sending a small group of students and teachers to the N’Kwazi Lodge, which is situated along the banks of the Okavango River in Namibia, Africa. While there, they will support and augment locally run projects that are ongoing in the nearby community of Mayana.

Background
In the summer of 2009, Monika Handwerker, teacher, and Lawrence Gillman, student, traveled to N’Kwazi Lodge, situated on the banks of the Okavango River in northern Namibia. Their trip was of a private nature. Monika had visited Africa several times and this lodge had caught her attention on a trip in 2007; she had wanted to go back “with time”. Lawrence’s father had been born and raised in Zimbawe and he had looked for a chance to travel to Africa, not just as a tourist. Before leaving, Monika discussed the potential of turning this location into a school-wide service project with a number of people at school, including the CAS Co-ordinator, Diploma Co-ordinator and School Director. The result of this discussion was that Monika and Lawrence used their personal trip to check the project’s viability and completed much of the groundwork that has led to the project’s status today.



Why this project?
There are many causes and projects in the world that we could support. Why this one? We are convinced that this is an ideal project for H.I.S. for a number of reasons.

• It fits our size! We are a small school looking to make a difference. This project offered flexibility in terms of size and yet allowed us to act as a school instead of individuals.

• We are supporting a local effort! There are local people already doing many things to improve their community. We would not impose from the outside, but rather support and augment this incredible local effort already in place.

• Educational impact for our students! Our students traveling to the region have a unique opportunity to learn globally with minimal costs. They are directly involved with project development rather than tagging on to a pre-packaged deal.