Mormon Helping Hands Service Project

Last Saturday, I participated in a Mormon Helping Hands service project where we helped to clean up the grass and weeds around the building. There was a pretty good turnout from two of the branch congregations located in Windhoek. At times, I felt like the token "white guy" but I am beginning to feel like a normal African and rarely feel out of place being the only Caucasian in a group as everyone treats me the same as everybody else. Little kids, however, sometimes don't know what to make of me.

The school is located in the rich part of town, so the facility is not representative of what most schools in Namibia look like. Although there are clearly poor areas in the region that require our help, all forms of service are important as even well off people need help once in awhile. So, hopefully no one is too judgmental that the project wasn't out in one of the areas of extreme poverty. In any case, here are some pictures.

The school has about 500 students from grades 1 to 7.
Hostels are visible in the far background as many students go to boarding schools in Namibia

 

We cut down a camel thorn bush in this area

The grass and weeds had been about 60 to 100 centimeters tall in this area

  

You will notice the lack of any power tools or equipment. Don't find those much here in Namibia. Everything was done using rakes, shovels, hoes, slashers, wheel barrels, etc. By the way, the ground is very rocky and almost as hard as concrete. So, the digging wasn't particularly easy. It was amazing that anything can grow. I also had to use pliers to remove camel thorns from my shoes when we were done. One of the dangers of doing yard work in Namibia.