"It's because of this lady"
Kaunapawa Lourencia Philemon
(affectionately called "Meme Kauna" by everyone) is the founder of the "Ileni Tulikwafeni - House of hope and trust" project.
In November 2018, Michael Hoppe from steps for children met Kauna and her husband Joseph during his project trip and found out about the care of children in kindergarten and a preschool. In 2019, a first step was taken with the cooperation and the childcare received support from steps for children.
Stephan and Sabine got to know Kauna through a friend who works at steps for children and introduced them to Kauna's project.
From the very beginning, trust was an elementary pillar of working together to get the soup kitchen off the ground. But first things first.
Kauna has been running a center in the township "5 Rand Informal Settlement" since 2003, a center that initially cared for people with HIV and hepatitis and increasingly also looked after small children, pre-school education and after-school care.
Kauna is the central contact person for all the people who walk several kilometers from the surrounding township to the "House of hope and trust" every day.
Stigmatization due to HIV motivated Kauna to do educational work. Above all, she sees the future for women.
She is in the front row every day and is there for everyone.
Up to 100 children are currently being looked after in a kindergarten and a preschool. And the number is growing. These children have to be provided with food, as the parents are unable to feed them and malnutrition is unfortunately the order of the day
Together with Stephan and Sabine, Kauna has people at its side who were able to feed around 50 children at the start of the collaboration. And everyone helped together as much as they could.
Today, thanks to the close exchange, up to 1,600 children can be provided with a hot meal at least three times at the Soupkitchen. But often there is not enough for everyone.
She has often had to look into the eyes of children for whom one of the weekly meals was not enough. That has left its mark on her. But she keeps going and is proud that she has been able to be a companion to children on their tough journey through life, who then come back years later and are able to get an education.
"It's because of this lady...." - This woman is the reason why I am the person I am today. She has heard this sentence from women and men who are now in the education or legal sector or in the Namibian military. This does not make her proud, but grateful.