Nova Cares - Pallium

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Karlien spoke to Dr. Michaela Fink, a member of the board of Pallium eV about the support that they give to Johan Kruger and his Project Dignity in Swakopmund as well as other institutions.

Pallium Association started more than 20 years ago as a Student Initiative
It all began twenty years ago with the renovation of a hut in Namibia that had provided shelter for abandoned children. At that time, students from the Institute of Sociology at the Justus Liebig University Giessen picked up paintbrushes and trowels to spruce up the house a little. Now, members of the association are looking back on two decades of history.
The story actually began with an excursion to Namibia. Out of this initiative grew the non-profit association Pallium e.V., founded by committed people from Giessen under the leadership of Prof. Reimer Gronemeyer (sociologist and theologian).
Over the years, the association has built a soup kitchen in the Windhoek-Katutura district (the Havana Soup Kitchen). Pallium is funding the monthly costs of this project since its start in 2010. The soup kitchen provides nutrition and pre-primary education for 40-50 children. And it includes a “Granny Project”, whereby elderly people get regular food assistance. The project is run by the Namibian Frieda Geiseb.
A home for children in crisis was built (the Dolam Children’s Home of human rights activist Rosa Namises) and a bus was purchased for the children's home.
On a property near Okahandja, a large community garden was established (in Okandjira) in cooperation with the local Damara community.
In the township of Swakopmund, ten small houses have now been built, providing homes for families who previously lived in cardboard-and-sheet-metal shacks and survived by scavenging through garbage bins.
The support program in Swakopmund includes regular food assistance for the so-called “diggers”, those surviving from waste. Pallium’s local partners (Johan Kruger, Project Dignity, a charitable initiative, and Johan Kotze, Cars and Guides for Hire cc company) organise with the Pallium funds a mobile soup kitchen and the distribution of monthly supermarket vouchers as well as a sewing project for women “diggers”.
Pallium further supports a desert school in northern Namibia near the Angolan border (Epinga).
Time and again, people in especially difficult circumstances ask for help. One example is Suama: the young woman living with amputated legs, studies at a university in Windhoek, but had not even had a blanket for her bed. Pallium supported her with a prostheses and helps supply the necessities she needs to manage everyday life.
Pallium survives through both small and large donations. The association’s work has expanded over the years.
A new project has been started in the north of Namibia (near Rundu), focusing on abandoned and vulnerable young people living with HIV/AIDS.
info@pallium-ev.com
3 Jul 7AM English South Africa Music Commentary · Society & Culture

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