(Principal Renate Mohrmann on the left, teacher Christine Hoppe on the right. Middle: Arthur Rohlfing)
Every year during the fall vacations, the students of the Drei-Freunde-Grundschule Scholen with its branch in Sudwalde become very active. They collect donations for their Namibian sponsored child from the Sonnenkinderprojekt Namibia e.V.. This year they were particularly successful. At the end of November, principal Renate Mohrmann and Christine Hoppe, the organizer of the fundraising campaign, were able to hand over the proud sum of €1611.71 to chairman Arthur Rohlfing. Unfortunately, the children of the school could not participate again this year because of the Covid situation.
For many years now, the elementary school has been a partner school of the Sonnenkinderprojekt Namibia e.V. Together, all the children ensure that their current sponsored child Leonie can attend the Rehoboth Primary School in Namibia and is provided with the essentials. “It is enormously important to us at the school that our students learn to give something and care for someone who is not as well off as they are. They learn to think outside the box,” explains Christine Hoppe. In order to anchor sponsorship even more firmly in the Drei-Freunde-Grundschule, a project day on the topic of Africa has been taking place in all classes since this year, two weeks before the fall vacations. Christine Hoppe developed the concept with a small team and created a variety of materials. For one day, all classes work on a specific topic related to their year. The topic of the first classes is the animals of Africa, the second classes learn a lot about life and living in Africa.
In the third year, the main topic is the Sonnenkinderprojekt and school and learning in Africa. A fixed component is the visit of the founder of the Sonnenkinderprojekt, Arthur Rohlfing, who as a guest and discussion partner answers questions in the classes and gives them an understanding of the project. The fourth grades deal with the African landscape, plants and climate. After four years of elementary school, all the children have covered each topic once and gotten to know Africa a little better. To complement this, Christine Hoppe shows each class a child-friendly PowerPoint presentation about Namibia, Leonie’s living conditions, her school and the Sonnenkinderprojekt Namibia e.V.: “Here, the children are amazed at the pictures they see and get a closer connection to what they do for Leonie during the vacations.”
All these experiences spurred the children of the elementary school very much to collect donations for Leonie during the fall vacations. For this they helped in the household and in the garden, with neighbors or grandparents, e.g. they raked leaves, cleaned up, cleaned windows, cars and bicycles, helped with renovations and in the barn. In return, they received small amounts of money, which they donated to Leonie. The children were also very creative and imaginative, as they painted rocks, baked cupcakes, made iron bead pictures, and built chestnut spiders, among other things, all of which were subsequently sold. There were even children who donated part of their savings. As a result, a new record total of €1611.71 was raised. “I’m stunned!” was Arthur Rohlfing’s first reaction when he heard about it. He now wants to make sure that Leonie gets new clothes and that the family is provided with a food package because of the pandemic. “Leonie even gets to wish for a toy for Christmas this year!” Especially to all the children and the parents the great thanks of the school and the Sonnenkinderprojekt Namibia e.V. The founder and chairman Arthur Rohlfing sends his warmest greetings to all who have worked and donated for Leonie!