Preparing our children‘s home

April 24, 2022

Preparing our children‘s home

We recently purchased a property approximately 8 km outside of Opuwo, Kunene region, Namibia (see my previous blog describing two potential locations for the children‘s home).

The former hotel pension Le Manoir is a perfect place to quickly and cost-effective convert hotel rooms into a children‘s home setting.

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Entrance area with sign from my church in the US:
This home is filled with Hope!!!

Our plot:

The surrounding is great, far away from bars and loud music in Opuwo town. The plot has plenty of trees for shade and open areas for games and activities. One day we plan to have a school building with classrooms on premise, as well as a playground and swimming pool.

Many trees on our plot provide shade

Trees are surrounding the building

and provide welcomed shade in the afternoon

A big table under two trees will serve as meeting place and for snack time in the afternoon.

A great place for afternoon snacks, enjoying the shade

We tried planting bushes along the fence during the rainy season, but unfortunately all were sold out. Also flower seeds were not to get anywhere in Opuwo to make the sprinkler-watered circle area in front of the Children’s Home more attractive.

We want to plant flowers here

Our building:

Our dining hall:

The entrance area/lobby is a great place for our dining hall, serving yummy meals and can also be used for children activities requiring tables and chairs (i.e., coloring, puzzles, crafts, etc.). Educational posters and African artifacts help to trigger the children’s curiosity and motivate to learn about new things.

Preparing our dining hall

Educational posters are a great tool to motivate learners

African artifacts from Uganda & Ethiopia
will trigger curiosity in our HopeKids

Our kitchen:

The kitchen is fully equipped and ready to go for preparing meals for our Papa Ramon’s Children’s Home HopeKids. A bigger gas stove is also available for preparing meals for our feeding program - see blog here!

Our kitchen is ready to go for preparing meals

Our inner courtyard:

The inner courtyard has trees providing shade and a great cooling environment. Birds are chirping, adding a great natural flair into the center of the Children’s Home.

Inner courtyard, a great place to hang out

Our courtyard paradise

Our water fountain.
Now we need some little fish

The roofed corridors connecting the rooms are great for visiting different rooms during the rainy season. But first the leaking roof has to be fixed.

Roofed corridors are connecting the rooms

Inner courtyard: a great place for playing games

The roof is leaking, a repair is needed

Getting rid of rubble

Repairing the roof

Our dormitory rooms:

All dormitory rooms have bathroom facilities with hot water shower (what a luxury), toilet and sink. Some rooms were converted into play areas for the little ones, game rooms and ‘cinema’.

Every room is equipped with full bathrooms

A container load of boxes filled with donated toys, games, children clothes, etc. arrived recently. Now it’s time to unpack and sort.

Many boxes need to be unpacked

Many boxes with toys, games, crafts and children clothes need to be unpacked and sorted

Repairs:

A lot of things need to be prepared before our first HopeKids will arrive. Small repairs are needed, dormitory rooms equipped, bunk beds assembled, shelves installed, etc.