Ehomba is a Himba village about 30kms from Kunene River Lodge. The school, based in an old South African military camp, teaches about 140 children in conditions which are far from ideal. Unlike some western children, however, these pupils are fiercely eager to learn and quite literally go to enormous lengths to attend their beloved school.

In September 2007 a New Zealander named Jenny Shipley travelled to Kaokoland to make a TV documentary. While making the documentary, Jenny - who was trained as a teacher - asked us at KRL if there was a Himba school she could visit, and we pointed her towards Ehomba School. She returned from her visit visibly moved, and determined to help improve both the standard of living and education facilities at the school.

Perhaps here we should point out that Jenny possesses a unique qualification in her CV which gives her a supreme advantage when it comes to persuading governments to do the right thing: she was once Prime Minister of New Zealand!

The following summary is freely adapted from Jenny's newsletter following her second visit to Kaokoland in 2008, which resulted from her formation of the Namibian Educational Trust - a charitable organisation whose sole purpose is to benefit the children of Namibia.

Dear Friends,

The lights are on at Ehomba School in Africa! We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Namibia. Every dollar that the Namibian Educational Trust has raised has gone to the project, with a significant proportion already invested in the school.

We arrived at Ehomba in a truck which had been almost dismantled to squeeze in a photocopier! We also brought balls for rugby, soccer, netball and volleyball as well as hula hoops, skipping ropes, books, laptops, projectors, food and other treats for the children. We also commissioned 5,000 pencils and pens with Ehomba School written on them. You would have thought we had given them treasure in offering these children a pencil with their own school identity written on it.

We had an amazing few days and many special moments at the school. Early one morning they insisted we hoist the bright, new Namibian flag we had brought together with a New Zealand flag on the pole kindly left behind by the South African Army. The children addressed the flag with great reverence, and it touched my heart as I watched those flags rise against a beautiful Namibian morning sky. A significant number of children were barefoot, had only had one meal a day, and their state of clothing was much less than the poorest child in New Zealand would experience, yet their hope and pride was obvious to see.

The new solar energy system now powers the school buildings, dormitories and kitchen. They also now have a photocopier, fax, computers and projector to use in the six classrooms.

Water supply is a huge challenge since there is only a dribbling single tap with hardly any water pressure to support the school and some of the surrounding community. The borehole feeding the tap is about 1km away and long overdue for repair but we are hoping to to get this resolved shortly, after which we hope to arrange irrigation for a small fenced garden to provide some food.

Pete and Hillary are continuing to monitor the water supply problems which, to date, remain unresolved.

The children are a joy, expecting so little, yet overwhelmed in appreciation for anything you do for them. The enthusiasm of the learners and their teachers is second to none and we are very optimistic that further support will bring huge benefits to the children's education.

56 of the 139 students are orphaned or marginalised, mainly due to HIV/Aids. The School Principal, with his wife, effectively offers pastoral care to at least a third of these children. About 120 pupils stay at school from Sunday night to Friday lunchtime, many having to walk 20kms to spend 24 hours at home for the weekend and then walk 20kms back again! About 20 stay for the weekends as well because it's too far for them to walk home.

It is obvious that the most talented students have the potential to go on to further education in Windhoek and we would like to see this encouraged as it will demonstrate the value of their schooling.

We left the children with photographs of themselves, a soccer trophy to compete for, all manner of teaching materials, and so on. However the basic nutrition of the children is still an obvious problem, so the water supply and subsequently a sustainable garden is our next phase of development.

The Conservancy's first release of wildlife in northern Namibia has been a highlight for the children, who all had their own stories of seeing the animals drinking at the river. The Namibian Government's efforts in this area are to be applauded and it is my ambition that over and above subsistence farming, a viable economy will eventually emerge in which the educated students of the Ehomba School will contribute to the future success of their region.

We also discovered that Ehomba School is the hub school of a cluster. There are another 450 students in 10 surrounding satellite schools. So our family is slightly larger than we thought, but the opportunity and potential to help more children in this northern Namibian region is very real. The Government seems extremely enthusiastic and committed, having acquired a partner, and having made such significant investment in educational assets in the school, so now they are committed to protecting these assets and continuing to fund them for the benefit of the students, the school and the wider cluster.

We all feel privileged to be associated with this project and its amazing group of learners and teachers, and to be able to help some children in Africa directly. There are many other challenges in the health and nutrition area that we have hardly touched yet, but we can see a path forward and we remain very committed to doing what we can to help.

We hope that you will be interested in this project. If you would like to make a donation or to support the scholarships or water projects please email burton@jsnz.com

For more information, please visit www.namibiankids.org.nz

Warm Regards, Jenny Shipley

The full text of Jenny's Newsletter may be found on the above website, together with a full account of her first visit to Namibia in 2007 under the heading: Intrepid Diary. Day 6 of the journal includes details of her short stay at Kunene River Lodge.

Please Note: Kunene River Lodge is not responsible for any aspect of the Namibian Educational Trust. If you wish to contact the Trust, please do so using the e-mail or website address above.