Kristine Rouleau, who doubles as GCE's Registered Agent, and who triples as the Director's sister, is helping to raise funds for GCE by running to Canada and back. Please click here to learn about her mission and how to donate. Tangi unene!
GCE grew out of the informal educational assistance our Director facilitated for Gosen students in the years immediately following his time there as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Informal assistance is really just GCE parlance for Petrus and Gabriel, both of whom recently graduated university and to whom we extend our warmest congratulations. Petrus graduated from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa and is currently employed as an engineer with Namsov Fishing Enterprises in Walvis Bay, Namibia.
Gabriel graduated from the University of Namibia and is currently employed as a general foreman with the Nexus Group in All Over, Namibia. Big ups to these two for the warm and fuzzies here at GCE HQ. GCE would like to wish all Namibians and Namibia herself a very happy Independence Day. Lots of struggles to still overcome - cough, inequality, cough - but at least people can address those issues in relative peace. While Namibia is a stable country governed by the rule of law, its independence was only granted in 1990, meaning not only is the struggle for freedom a living memory for many Namibians, but only those 24 and younger were born free citizens in their own country. Ponder the inverse, if you would. Peace and freedom are things we definitely shouldn't take for granted, so please enjoy yours wherever you may be.
GCE is proud to announce we will be supporting 3 new scholars this year in addition to the 10 from last year. We are also extremely proud of the 5 scholars from our 2012 intake for recently graduating high school.
2014 GCE Scholars: Hikongwa Josef Kiimba Jacob Nekoto Salathiel Unfortunately for blog aesthetics, none of our newest scholars were students at Gosen CS in 2005, which was when our Director took the photos we included with previous years' announcements of scholarship recipients, so we don't have photos of them as 4th, 3rd, 2nd, or whatever graders to accompany this year's big ol' press release. We don't have any photos, actually, but will hopefully remedy that soon. Namibia was listed as one of The New York Times' 52 Places to Go in 2014. It's #6 on their list but #1 on ours, awwwww. It feels as if Namibia is included on this list biennially, always because of "conservation." Regardless, proppers to whomever at the Namibia Tourism Board has discovered where the NYT travel desk hosts its happy hours, the Old Grey Lady being known for its editorial integrity.
GCE's first group of scholars graduated high school in December 2012. In an effort to keep abreast of how they're doing currently, the entire staff sits around GCE HQ playing Candy Crush while waiting for previous scholars to friend us on Facebook. Recently, Johannes Imene stopped by to say hello and then answered a bunch of questions we hadn't thought to ask until after he answered them. Monsieur is currently studying Business Administration at the Polytechnic of Namibia. What was your living situation like while you were at Gosen?
My living situation was not that good while at combined school. I am an orphan without a father. I live with my mother since the death of my father in the year 2000. My family consists of seven members: mom, two sisters, one brother, one niece, one nephew, and I. None is employed and therefore all of us rely on her (mother) for support, especially financially. My brother, niece, nephew and I are still schooling. Going to school was not easy especially when I was young because the school (Gosen) where I attended my pre-primary until grade 10 was far - approximately 5 KM - from home. When growing up, I realise that footing for such a long distance is an encouragment for me to work hard in school. Apart from that everything else was going well. When did you first hear that you could get a scholarship if you scored at least a 30 on the grade 10 exam? What did you think about that? I think that was a great opportunity which needs not to be wasted. Personally, I think 30 points is not something difficult to a learner who is dedicated and focusing to his or her school work. Did the promise of a scholarship motivate you at all? Yes, throughout the year I had to work very hard and I was also forced by the promise to make the competition very strong. It also encouraged me to work hard with a fear of losing an open opportunity as such. What do Gosen students think or say about the scholarships? Some of the learners that I met with and shared that idea responded positively toward the idea. They said that they are happy and think that this was the best way to encourage individuals to work extra hard and as a result improve the overall result for grade 10 at Gosen. How did you feel when you found out you had a scholarship? Hahaha.......it was a phenomenal day for me. I was so happy and proud of myself. Being told that my parent will not be responsible for my school and residence fees at secondary school, I was so happy. I was so thankful that I met my mom halfway financially. GCE’s primary goal is to help improve the overall pass rate at Gosen. Do you think the promise of a scholarship helps? The promise of the scholarship really helps, because learners are directly encouraged by that promise to work hard and all students are willing to be beneficially of GCE. Moreover parents are also motivating their daughter and sons to work extra hard in order for them to be awarded scholarship and as a result the pass rate will increase. GCE relies on donations from many supporters. If you could speak to all of them at once, what message would you like to give? First let me appreciate the idea of GCE. Secondly, I would like to thank all donors for making it possible for GCE and keeping it rolling. So I take this opportunity to extend a personal thank you to you all stakeholders of GCE for your generous contribution and dedication in turning GCE into a fast growing organisation. Keep doing it not only for GCE but for others too. May God bless you all. You’re living in Windhoek [the capital of Namibia]. What do you like and not like about it compared to the village? The best thing I like about Windhoek is its formation; it was well planned. Sources of information are also available, e.g. library. I will not finish listing things I like about Windhoek. The problem is only that Windhoek is becoming the home if robbers and thiefs, which makes the environment unstable. M’shasho or GMP? Lag......M'shasho! [Ed note: If the Director had known Johannes liked M'shasho we would have never paid for his school fees. GMP 4 Life!] Thanks to Johannes for answering our questions. We are very excited to see him doing well at Polytechnic. After three weeks of spamming Facebook in 15 separate languages, GCE finally hosted its annual holiday fundraiser on Christmas Eve, where we pretend sang real songs, drew names for raffle prizes, then went home and ate chicken or something while waiting for Jesus Clause to shimmy his way down whatever ventilation ducts pass for chimneys in Korea. Although we promised to post video of the drawing, our in-house videographer forgot to press the record button, mostly because the Director forgot to tell her to. Nevertheless, we have signed affadavits attesting that the first La Mer winner was David Friedman, of Seoul by way of Boston; and the second was Andrea Ferguson, a gentlewoman from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since David was the first winner he had first choice of watches, a decision he made by looking around for his girlfriend to see which she preferred, finding that she had left, and finally guessing she'd like the rose gold watch better. This worked out well for Andrea, who included a note with her donation stating she'd like "whichever the other person doesn't want. They're both cute." We hope it worked out for David just as well. Battle Our fundraiser was organized around a lip sync battle, an idea borrowed from a lady who stole it from the Jimmy Fallon Show. Eight contestants entered the octagon in search of the gold-plated hairbrush-as-microphone we commissioned for a trophy, but only two made it to the finals: Jeremy's shirt is a traditional Owambo shirt that was a gift from the people of Onyati, Namibia, not a purchase made at the neighborhood Big & Tall, SO STOP ASKING!!! To find out which of these ladies won you will have to watch the video below. But before you do we would like to both congratulate and thank Danielle Schaeffer for winning the battle and then donating the 100 Korean dollar grand prize back to GCE. Without her skill and generosity we would have only raised $2325 during our fundraiser instead of the $2421 we actually did. For that we also thank everyone who purchased a raffle ticket or donated just because. We are truly grateful for all the support we get, whether from family members, friends of friends, and even complete strangers. Further thanks goes to the Southside Parlor for hosting the event, Casablanca Sanwicherie, La Mer Collections, Magpie Brewing Co., and Surge Dance Intensive for their outstanding donations to our raffle, and Ines and Lydia Min for working their own brand of underground magic to make our event even more impressive. Anyhow, ESPN is on: Stunt Fundraising Our Director promised a perm and then a mullet if we met certain fundraising thresholds, which were absolutely obliterated. While he isn't particularly happy most people who meet him now assume he smokes 40 cigarettes a day and speaks French, he is rather thankful for all the support that we can pass onto our scholars, of whom we will have an update soon so please stay tuned. Otherwise, Jerm the Perm, y'all: The response to our raffle has been tremendous and has by far exceeded what we thought possible. Our initial goal was $500 and a new hairstyle for our Director, but we met that goal within a few days and are currently sitting at nearly $1200. For that we are incredibly grateful, forever. However, we are still fairly well short of our projected budget for 2014. When we first started funding students in 2011, it cost us about $700 to put 7 students into 11th grade; in 2012 it cost $1500 to pay for 12 students in both grades 11 and 12; and this year it cost $2100 for 15 students. For 2014 we are anticipating 20 scholars, which will cost around $2800. If we add the money we have from previous fundraisers to what we've raised so far in this one, we are still 30% short of meeting our obligations. So we are making a final push before our fundraising party. If you haven't bought raffle tickets, PLEASE BUY SOME NOW! Here's the donate button: If you've already purchased raffle tickets, THANK YOU SO BIG! But can you still please tell your friends how nice we are? How beautiful the watches are? How perplexing the Detroit Tigers' offseason has been? That there has been a Special Stunt Bonus update? Special Stunt Bonus Update Our Director initially promised a perm if we raised $500 in pre-sale raffle tickets. He is currently getting fitted for hair rollers. Our new threshold is $1500. If we somehow meet that goal he will add a mullet to the perm mix, because there is nothing more professional in the NGO world than a permullet. The mustache will be a complimentary show of appreciation because thank you again for your support. And remember, the raffle is for watches from La Mer Collections. Drawing for the winners will be at our holiday fundraiser on December 24 in Seoul, Korea.
1/3 of the GCE Board doubles as a talented musician and has just released a new EP. Stream it then buy it because ambient blues is a thing you probably didn't know existed; but then again, you didn't know fun existed until you had it, and look at you now. GCE would like to add its condolences to the worldwide respect being paid Nelson Mandela upon his passing. Madiba was an inspiration for different reasons during the various stages of his life: from his principled stand against Apartheid as a young lawyer, to the sacrifice of his personal freedom during a more active resistance, and finally for the forgiveness and reconciliatory spirit he demonstrated afterward. As an organization committed to Namibian education, we are especially mindful of the direct influence Mandela's life work had on the people we care so much about. Apartheid is mostly associated with South Africa, but as colonial subjects of the Pretoria government, Namibians were likewise subjected to the monstrous policies of white minority rule. Consequently, they resisted in tandem with their South African counterparts and generally followed the strategic course set by Mandela's ANC, so even though the two countries have their own separate heroes, histories, and mythologies, Mandela is beloved in Namibia for the Long Walk to Freedom he inspired in both. RIP, Mandela. |
|