Bonjour mes amis. I’d like you to meet Christopher Likuwa. Christopher is 11 years old and lives in Mahetago, Namibia (near Swakopmund) with his parents, brother and sister. In the 4th grade at Tamariscia Primary School, his favorite subject is math. Christopher participates in the Mondesa Youth group which is how I came to meet Christopher.
Flash back to Silicon Valley 3 years ago. As I was selling my furniture, car and all other earthly possessions and preparing to head off to cooking school, a friend and co-worker, Rob Myres, had much nobler plans in mind. He too traded his keyboard but his was for a blackboard as he joined World Teach and journeyed to Africa.
It was during his time with World Teach in Mondesa, Namibia that Rob realized the desperate need for a consistent, long-term, self-sustaining organization to support the people, namely the children, of Mondesa and surrounding areas. So putting words into action, Rob founded Mondesa Youth Opportunites as a privately funded charity that "focuses exclusively on youth development and life skills mentoring programs in Western Namibia".
Mondesa itself is a very poor township community located on the outskirts of Swakopmund, on the Western coast of Namibia. Now we’re not talking silicon-valley-oh-I-can-only-afford-one-vacation-home-and-a-hummer-poor, but poor as in We-Have-No-Shoes-Poor! One of Rob’s first missions upon arrival was establishing a tennis club but before that it was necessary to recruit donations for tennis shoes, or really just shoes in general!
Rob’s mandate for all fundraising efforts is that 100% of the money directly benefits the children of MYO. And to that end, one of his many innovative initiatives is the Mondesa Youth Sponsorship Program. For a mere $15 a month contribution, you can “sponsor” a child. You will be paired with a child, receive a letter from him or her along with periodic updates from their teacher. You can communicate with your “sponsored child” as well via emails to their teacher.
I talk about wanting to save the world. My friend Rob is actually DOING it, one child at a time. God bless him...and all those precious children.
Nice little boy. If only every single person in west europe, America were helping kids in Africa that'd be great. I'm sponsoring a kid name Henry, lives in Nigeria.
Posted by: Cindy | Tuesday, 11 October 2005 at 10:06 PM
hi cindy, thank you so much for your note! henry is a lucky to have you. indeed, it would be truly amazing if every person, or even half the people, (who could) gave $15/month, it would literally change the world. how exciting is that?! rob said he’d rather have 1000 people give $15/month then 15 people give $1000 a month. anyways, i love your site. your tarts aux fruits look scrumtious and the pizza looks so good i could eat the screen as i just got home and am starving. if you get up to paris, please let me know. bonne cuisiner! i know i am spelling that wrong but you know what i mean...laura
Posted by: laura @ cucina testa rossa | Tuesday, 11 October 2005 at 11:54 PM
my sponsor-a-child plan is still well, sadly, in planning process... note to self: MUST do something before the new year!
Posted by: Lil | Wednesday, 12 October 2005 at 11:01 AM
hey lil - it's a great new year's resolution!
Posted by: laura @ cucina testa rossa | Tuesday, 18 October 2005 at 04:00 PM