Training Begins Again

New Students

One out of these five was selected. Very difficult to choose.

We have just begun our third training. On Tuesday the 6^th of September we handed out 27 applications and we had 23 return the applications. We invited all 23 to come back for interviews and as we sat with each one and talked to them our hearts were moved and we wanted to invite them all back to be a part of the program. We sat with our friends from the States, Charles and Sondra, and reviewed the applications and had the difficult task of deciding which ones would participate. Having to choose ten was just too hard and in the end we accepted eleven into the program.

The program began on September 13^th and will run for twelve weeks. We have four men and seven women this time and we are already very excited about this group. We now have the next twelve weeks to work with these eleven young people - to help them develop and grow – in personal character as well as practical skills which will help them find work. We look forward to the coming weeks to share with you how these young people are progressing.

We recently had friends from Germany visit us. We had met them last year while they were visiting Namibia and told them about our idea of starting a café and they got involved and began helping raise awareness in Germany for the program and they helped raise funds allowing us to purchase laptops which we use in the program and equipment that we needed in the café. It was nice having them visit because they could sit with some of the young men and women who have completed the program and hear directly from them how the program has helped them.

One thing we are being asked is how successful is the program so far. I have to say that I have wrestled with this question because how does one define success? My definition will be different than yours so how can I measure the success of the program to say it is good or bad. I can say that we have successfully completed two trainings so far. We had 5 out of 11 complete the first program and we had 9 out of 10 complete the second program. Of the 14 who have completed the program all are working fulltime. Six are working for us as the Café, five are working at Clowsa Biltong, one is working for NamGem and one is working at a restaurant on the coast. The Café has gained a very good reputation in the community for great service, great food and a great setting. We successfully hosted a private luncheon for the First Lady of Namibian and 124 guests. These are all things that people like to hear about and we are happy to share. I come back to the question: “What is success?” Who am I to determine what it is and how it should be measured.

Catherine and I have been called here by God to this work so for us our success will be measured by Him when we get to heaven and we can hear Him say well done good and faithful servant. Our hope is that our friends, family and partners will be happy with what we are able to share. We will make every effort to show how things are going by sharing stories and testimonies from those who have completed the program and from those in the program. The success of this program is largely because so many wonderful people have heard about this mission of hope and have caught the vision and chosen to participate with us.  Together, we have seen lives changed and transformed – from hopeless to confident, from despairing to motivated.  We call that SUCCESS!