Osire Refugee Camp is a refugee camp located in Namibia 200km north of Windhoek. It accommodates refugees from Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Somalia.

As an initiative in the secondary student council in line with the United Nations SDG, we aimed to collect necessities that would make the move to a strange new country a little easier.

In addition to these basics, we also collected toys, educational materials and “comfort items” to give all the residents something to aid in creating a sense of normalcy.

The student council held various events on campus to raise funds to buy items, and planned drives to collect items from the community of Windhoek International School!

Children’s Camp Namibia is a camp organized for underprivileged children of Namibia, allowing them to connect with others in the community that they would not normally have access to.

Through the camp, the children are engaged in Sports, Academic games and team-building exercises among their teams. These teams all have a team leader who is there to support them throughout the camp.

The teams prepare meals together, and participate in all events together throughout the camp, before the camp the team leaders fundraise to provide each child with a backpack of essentials and to provide funds for other items to make the camp a success for everyone.

As team leader for the year 2017, these were some of the activities I worked on in collaboration with the other team leaders of Children’s Camp Namibia 2017.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a charitable organisation which has as its main aim the protection and prevention of cruelty to animals. The organisation is dependent mainly on public donations.

In addition to adopting our pets from the SPCA instead of buying them, I volunteered every weekend at the SPCA from 2012 to 2015.

Volunteer work included:

-Feeding dogs and cats

-Taking animals for walks

-Socialisation and Rehab for animals

- Cleaning the Kennels

-Grooming

-Part-time work at the reception (Donations, Adoptions, Admin)

‘Happiness is not a limited Resource” - Christopher Aiff

Christopher Aiff was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in his leg. The doctors told him he was cured but then found 50 tumours in his lungs on his first check-up. Chris was an extraordinary 21-year old that shared wisdom we could all use. Chris Aiff passed away in May 2014.

Chris was like an older brother you could go to for advice while I was growing up, he always had a smile on his face and saw the best in everyone.

To this day I try to help out where possible by donating funds to the Cancer Association of Namibia.

Whether this is through hair “Spray-a-thons”, Movember Challenges or the Chris Aiff Tournament.

The AfriCat Foundation is a Namibian organisation promoting the conservation of large carnivores.

Its’ mission is to make a significant contribution to conservation through education and to showcase the threats that these carnivores currently face.

To date, the low human population and vast open spaces have sustained a relatively healthy equilibrium between animal species. However, these factors cannot be relied upon and intervention is required to guarantee the future of the large carnivores.

Working in Okonjima with the AfriCat foundation we volunteered for a week to clear invasive flora on the reserve to ensure the carnivores had a suitable environment.

I was awarded the AfriCat Ambassador Certificate for my volunteer efforts.

Perivoli Okonjima Country School is part of the Africat Foundation which believes in Conservation through Education.

The school (Kindergarten to Grade 4) aims to provide the best possible introductory schooling with a focus on the environment for its resident children.

We volunteered at the school for a week to provide engaging and fun games for the students and some education support where needed.