By Magreth Nunuhe
WINDHOEK – A kindhearted young man has donated gifts in kind to the value of N$3 500 to a Katutura orphanage. He is now calling upon individuals and businesses to do the same for the less privileged as, he says, Christmas, which is only a week away, is a time to give and remember others less fortunate than oneself.
Sendelly Gonteb, 26, an air steward with Air Namibia, gave Moria Grace Shelter for Orphans in Katutura’s Dolam location a food hamper of N$2 000 and children’s books worth N$1 500.
“I feel that no child should be unable to learn. We should bring learning to the less privileged,” he said.
Gonteb says kids are a blessing and it is difficult for those in orphanages to grow up without their parents.
He encourages others to donate whatever they can to orphanages of their choice as many are struggling financially. He also called on the corporate world and entrepreneurs to visit and see the conditions under which orphans live.
“It’s very touching to see them and it’s not their choice to be where they are,” he said strongly, adding that he feels every contribution helps and nothing is too small.
He said it was his first such donation and it melted his heart to see the young ones smiling.
“You are all good in your own way. Take care of yourself,” Gonteb motivated children at the home.
Danny /Goagoseb, Moria Grace Shelter for Orphans adminsitrator, thanked Gonteb on behalf of the orphanage and said as one of the first kids who was raised at one of the sister shelters in Soweto, he also decided to give back by running the centre.
/Goagoseb said he also runs his own business as an information technology (IT) trainer, but finds time to write proposals and manage food supplies and other issues for the shelter.
He added that the centre does not have a proper kitchen and none of the fridges work, but it recently received a stove from the American Embassy, while it often gets food from Stadt Mission, a German Lutheran Church but that support unfortunately seems to have ceased, according to him.
“We don’t have a reliable donor. We just rely on the kindness of people like Sendelly,” he said.
/Goagoseb said they sometimes get leftovers from City Produce and take the goods that have not perished for consumption at the orphanage.