May Update

Ark Okahandja
May began with a continuation of the kid’s holidays, and after the second week of holidays the schools of Namibia decided that 4 weeks wasn’t enough, so they added an extra week, making it a 5 week holiday! Most of the children went on holiday with extended family; some were able to go to a camp and some on a school choir trip during the 5 weeks. The girls who didn’t get to family during the holiday came to visit Auntie Charlene for a week! It was a busy but fun week with Francina, Tuuliki, Selma and Emily. Trevor went and spent a few days at the Ark with the boys. School went back on the 28th of May.
The staff at the Ark is doing well. Auntie Leila is back from her maternity leave (she was always around, just not responsible to do anything but bond with the new babe). Uncle Lazarus felt a little lost without Pete, but Charlene filled in where she could during the time Pete was in Oshikuku. Pelgrina who teaches the Choose to Wait program has not been doing well physically. She has AIDS and struggles from time to time with different health issues.
We welcomed 2 new volunteers this month. Joanne from the USA and Mari from Japan have joined us for short term. Joanne for 8 weeks and Mari for 6 months, Joanne has been helping with Care & Compassion and Mari with the children and will try each of the ministries to see which one fits for her. We also had a large team from Ireland come and spend some time here in Okahandja. They blessed the people beyond measure, with their time, talents and finances! A 7 member team from the USA arrived the end of the month and will spend a week joining in with each of the 3 ministries of the Ark. This team comes from Table Rock Church which almost fully funds the Ark Okahandja each month!
Walter, the National Director spent the month in Kenya at a Directors training.

Winter has come to Namibia!
I thought I would explain why the SNOWFLAKES in the newsletter this month. The cold weather has arrived EARLY this year! I have been thinking about how to explain how cold I mean… it is like camping in the late fall in Canada… bone chilling comes to mind! I wear a toque to bed! No… really… I do. We sleep on the floor (since our beds are still in Angola) and so it gets very cold on the cement floors, although thankfully we have a thin layer of carpet to keep the ice from forming! HA!
There’s no central heating in the houses so the cement houses feel chilly all day and really cold at night… the people in community who live in tin shacks are either freezing at night or roasting in the daytime!
I am writing this at 10 AM and it is 15 Celsius in the house… I would guess in the night we are getting down below 10 degrees! It usually doesn’t get this cold until July/August, so we are feeling the chill early this year.


Pete’s Ministry
This month Pete spent a great deal of his time with Joe up in Oshikuku or on the road (to and from). They managed to get a lot of work done tiling the Ark. Of course, Joe was able to see first hand some of the “GREAT” frustrations we encounter on an almost daily basis here in Africa, and I think he left with a better understanding of things and will probably read between the lines in our newsletters from now on! Pete sure enjoyed having Joe around this month; we wished he could stay longer!
The beginning of the month began with CHI prayer and fasting which Pete was responsible to plan and run. He chose the theme, The Glory of God. The CHI staff and volunteers were very positive in their reviews of the 2 day program.
Pete also helped the Irish team get involved in Care & Compassion and Kids Club during their stay. This team left a lot of money behind for different people and ministries and since WINTER has come we were able to purchase some blankets and jackets for the ladies at 5 Rand in the C&C program! They were overjoyed and are now much warmer at night.
Pete lost his Bible the last week of May… he feels like someone who has lost an arm or leg. It has been a very difficult thing for him to handle, not only because it is marked and well read, but also because we cannot get this version here in Africa, and it is the version he has memorized from.

Visitors
Joe arrived April 28 and went home May 26. He showered our family with lots of goodies… the kids were especially excited (from the sugar high), and Pete was thrilled with his new watch and Leatherman! Joe spent most of his time in Oshikuku working on the Ark. He also went to C&C at 5 Rand a few times. He helped cut some branches off of one of the trees at the Ark… with his Leatherman, and he also fixed a door there. He fixed our door too, now we keep slamming it, as we were used to having to ‘drag’ it closed!
Kelly and Dakotah arrived on the bus at 4 AM on May 7. Kelly attended the prayer and fasting day with us, she shared what was going on with CHI Zimbabwe. During the week we traveled to the Cheetah reserve north of Otjiwarongo (where they have the ‘best’ pizza). We had a flat tire on the way, which Kelly and Trevor replaced with the donut tire. As the tire was being replaced we ate pizza! The next day we traveled to Walvis Bay and stayed a wonderful guest house run by a generous Christian couple! We took the kids to the Dunes and after climbing to the top and rolling down Trevor negotiated with the Quad guy for an awesome rate… so the kids went Quading on the Dunes. The next day we spent at the ocean and the smaller dunes where the kids went dune boarding with their greased up boards. We had a great time visiting together and getting to know each other!
Joy from Florida arrived May 24 to be Matron of Honour at Buddy and Julia’s wedding. I personally enjoyed spending time with Joy and I wish they were still living here; I realized in her time here how much I missed having her around!
Jonathan arrived on May 30. He came on the bus from South Africa and arrived late at 6:30 AM in Windhoek (he was supposed to arrive at 5:45AM). He will be staying with us for 2 months and has already been getting involved with helping. The boys think he’s great!!

New House Help

Meagan gave up her job as our house help as Jenny needs the money to ‘survive’. Jenny is an excited newer believer with 2 children. Her little boy lives in Rundu with her mother, and Queen her 7 month old baby lives with her. Her husband died from TB before Queen was born (on the floor of her house here in Okahandja). Her son was also very sick with TB but was diagnosed correctly in time and was treated properly. I hired her for 3 hours a day but she stays for 6 to 8 and she loves to iron. With tears in her eyes she thanked me for hiring her… she said that now she can send money to help her son, her mother and her siblings. She has experienced many blessings in her life as she has remained faithful to God, and prayed to him for the things that she needs to live. You will hear more about Jenny in the days ahead, I will try to put something on the website soon sharing ‘her story’ and photos!


Charlene’s Ministry
This month has been extremely busy. With Pete gone for part of the month and people coming and going I have been kept going non-stop. I was trying to think of a job title for myself, I wanted something creative, but I haven’t had time to think… so here it goes… I am a HOLE FILLER! I have realized that there are those who dig the holes, those who supervise the work and those who fill them in again… I am the filler!
There were a lot of ‘holes’ this month! Barbara (the volunteer coordinator) was away and so when the volunteers who were going home it was me picking them up from the bus or dropping them off at the airport (1 1/2 hours from Okahandja)! There were about 6 trips to the airport, 1 trip to the bus stop in Windhoek and some were two trips in one day.
I helped with filling in holes during the planning for prayer and fasting. One of the missionaries here got married and there were several trips in and out of Windhoek, I think I made 5 trips to Windhoek in one week (twice one day). The bi-monthly reports were due this month, and since Walter was away the Prayer & Praise reports fell into my hands. I had a wedding shower/Braai at my house for the bride-to-be! There were many other things, but I don’t have space.
I was able to have a restful week when Kelly and Dakotah came from Zimbabwe on their way back to Canada. We traveled around giving them a little taste of Namibia. We saw the Cheetahs north of here and the coast to the west! It was a lot of driving, but we had a great time with the kids!
Also during this month I was very sick. I have had a terrible pain in my chest since the middle of the month and now a cough. You can pray that it is nothing more than pleurisy or a cold, however one day I will go in for a TB test... when I have some time!

The Funeral

I attended my first African funeral. You will have to check out the website to hear the full story as it had more twists and turns than the Leba in Angola (the switchback up the side of a mountain). At the beginning of the month our yard worker, Josef came and shared with us that his wife had died, they have 3 children (one was six weeks old at the time). The Irish team left money for formula for the baby and whatever might be needed for the funeral arrangements. One day I took Josef out to a farm to buy a goat for the day of the funeral, he managed to tie the front leg to the back and throw it in the back of my ‘car’! It cried and pooped all the way back to town… in my ‘car’! The day of the funeral as I was standing at the gravesite through a round about conversation Josef’s sister informed me who the woman was who died… we had a connection even though we didn’t know it. If you remember newsletters from August and September we talked about Rosaria (she died from TB… and had been beaten and sexual abused by her step-father). Well long story short, Josef seems to be the guy, although when I sat and talked with him he claims innocence. All I could do is share the gospel with him and hope and pray that things change in his life. The baby has now fallen ill and they are not sure the cause.

The Knightly Kids

Meagan turned 16 on May 7! We had cakes at the Ark after the prayer and fasting day was over. She used her birthday money from her grandparents to buy a new cell phone (it takes pictures… teenagers). She has been struggling with motivation for school, Pete has her reading encyclopedias now and doing Math. She loves to read! She has gotten some great books from our visitors.
Trevor is still enjoying wrestling, and especially liked learning new moves from Joe (a champion wrestler in his youth). Joe even went to club with them and taught his trademark winning move! He enjoyed spending time with Dakotah, both boys went on a hike up the mountain with her; they brought home a snake skin! I think Trevor is getting taller; he will be 13 in September (almost a teenager)
Tavis goes to wrestling but he has a hard time getting motivated to get out the door, but enjoys it when he gets there. He keeps busy and especially enjoys walking to the grocery store to purchase things for me. He is making plans for entrepreneur day at the school, and seems quite excited about it. It is common to hear Tavis say “do you want me to make you something for lunch”? He loves cooking!

Prayer and Praise

Praise
For safety in all the traveling we have done this month and for the finances to put fuel in our tank.
For special visits with friends from North America, this has been such a huge blessing and encouragement!
For the strength to complete all of the tasks that needed doing this month!
For the boys going back to school! Five weeks was a long time… for Mom!
For all of the ways to minister here in Namibia.
Prayer
Health… a common theme for Charlene! This month has been difficult health-wise. Pray for healing of this pain in the chest.
Still no word on going north, please pray that God will guide and direct not only us but the National Director in his decision making.
Still no sign of our things from Angola, we have tried to get in touch with the man arranging the transport down, but to no avail. As the weather gets colder we could use our beds, bedding, warm clothing and warm PJ’s that are still waiting in Lubango.
Please pray for wisdom and guidance in dealing with the ‘many’ difficult situations that we encounter. There are many people with obvious need here in Namibia and we can only financially and physically do so much. There are ‘many’ children who pick through the garbage to find food, how do you drive or walk by without feeling compassion?
Pete, Joe and I drove to the dump this month and gave bread that had been donated by Pic n Pay to 40 children who were picking through a fresh arrival of garbage. It’s heartbreaking!
I taught some kids to play hop scotch at 5 Rand while Joe was here, and afterward both Joe and I were wondering how one boys legs didn’t break from jumping, they were just skin and bones!
Jenny helped a woman the other day with some of the things that I had given her for the baby. This lady was cutting old clothes to use as nappies (diapers) and they were wearing rags. She shared nappies I had bought for her, and baby clothes that Joy had left for me to give away. This lady is taking 2 of her children north to live with family as they are starving, she will keep the baby with her and try to get work at a farm where her husband is working.
This is just a small portion of the needs we meet each day… so please pray! We truly need wisdom for who to help, when and how much!


We are in the transition phase with our finances and would appreciate your prayers during this time. Currently we are unable to receipt those who live in Canada (but we are working on it!).

For those who desire to support our ministry financially you can do so by
sending cheques to Ron and Marge (Pete’s parents).


Ron and Marge Knightly
Box 4, Ft. Steele BC V0B 1N0
Phone:250 426 4782

If you live in the USA you can mail your donation to CH-USA and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes. The address is PO Box 52038, Longwood FL, 32752-0328, please include a ‘separate’ paper indicating that your donation is for the
“Knightly Family-Namibia”!

Thank you for your support! We are continually overwhelmed by God’s provision for not only our daily needs but for the ability to help meet the needs of others through the generosity of those who give financially to our ministry here in Namibia. May God richly bless you!