High turnout at Parents Orientation Day 2018 @P.A.Y.
P.A.Y. kids dance for Puerto Rico
November 7, 2017
Press release for the SAIF MoU launch today at P.A.Y.
April 19, 2018
Forty-nine (49) parents came to receive a full orientation on P.A.Y. Programme operations in 2018 and hear Advocate John Walters, Namibia’s Ombudsman talk about the critical importance of children’s rights for national development.
Parental involvement in education of our learners is a key programmatic orientation of P.A.Y. Since 2016, P.A.Y. has successfully hosted parents at our Programme under various themes: in 2016 it was Family Fun Day and last year we organised Adopt a Child for Day community outreach day.
This year’s theme was Children’s Rights. For this purpose, we were uniquely privileged to have as our keynote speaker Advocate John Walters, Namibia’s Ombudsman. In his remarks, Advocate Walters explained to parents what provisions Constitution of Namibia has in terms of upholding children’s rights.
Advocate John Walters stressed how pleased he was to be addressing the parents at P.A.Y. Programme today which is structured to bring to life the best interest of the child, as stipulated in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC).
In a country which often struggles to motivate parents to take more active part in their children’s education, P.A.Y. Programme was particularly pleased to welcome 49 parents for a full briefing on our activities. In just over 2 hours, all the staff members and volunteers introduced themselves and their department’s output. The Programme Manager Ms Ursula Matzopoulos presented an outline of P.A.Y.’s day to day programme to the great interest of parents in attendance.
Ms Rosemary Garises (Damara lokasie) has two children at P.A.Y.: Dino in Grade 11 and Gabriel in Grade 8. When we asked her what value P.A.Y. brings to her children’s lives, this is what she had to say:
"P.A.Y. is REALLY helping my children! P.A.Y. took Dino off the streets and taught him how to concentrate. He now teaches his disabled sister everything he learns at P.A.Y., as well as the rest of us at the house” – recounted Rosemary with a smile. “I then decided to bring Gabriel because both their term reports have much improved since started attending P.A.Y."
The parents were also informed about the role our donors play in creating an enabling environment for their children to thrive academically as well as in personal terms, most notably RMB Namibia which has supported us to send 15 learners to receive quality education in Combretum Educational Trust since 2016
