Tuesday, October 31, 2006

We continue to adjust to our new life here in Okahandja Namibia. Life is different here than Angola, in some ways good and others well, we will continue to learn to adjust! We are still waiting for our personal effects from Angola; there is a problem with the Namibian side of the border crossing (something we didn’t expect).

Pete has been very busy working into his new position as Ministry Coordinator! Here are some of the things he has been doing.
Ø Attending many meetings in the community on HIV/AIDS, and O.V.C (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children).
Ø Agreed to go out with Social Services personnel and visit street children.
Ø Spoke in the white Dutch Reformed church and accompanied a colleague to the black Dutch Reformed Church (yes they still have some invisible borders even in churches here where the affects of A Partite will take generations to work through).
Ø Spent a lot of time working with the house parents at the Ark to get things organized.
Ø Hired a cook and laundry lady at the Ark.
Ø Promoted one of the ladies to assistant house parent.
Ø Has been reviewing the work of the staff at the Ark and assisting them with becoming more productive.
Ø Working on phasing out a catering service that delivers groceries to the Ark (they were expensive and not delivering all of the things needed to complete the menu plan). He is now working with Lazarus and the cook to develop a menu so that 2 weeks from now they can begin to do their own shopping.
Ø Developing a schedule for the workers at the Ark, some of them have never had days-off scheduled! He is going to work out holidays for them and is also working on extra pay for statutory holidays!
Ø Has been doing a lot of reading and reviewing policies and procedures.
Ø Attending CHI business meetings.
Ø Developing a schedule for the new volunteer from Germany who has come to work in the Ark.
Ø Helping with Care and Compassion
Ø Attended Choose to Wait training
Ø Planned a birthday party for Charlene, very nice gift, cake, ice cream and friends to enjoy it with!

Charlene has been busy, but not as much with CHI as with family things. Here’s a bit of what she has been doing.
Ø Schooling the kids (we are looking forward to the New Year; the start of the school year is in January here in Namibia).
Ø Packing and moving into a very nice place suitable for our family.
Ø Making curtains for a thousand windows (ok not a thousand but 9 and one very long window/door in the living room).
Ø Keeping the house clean and the family fed.
Ø Fixing computers for staff at the Ark (Lazarus’ computer had a few hundred viruses’ on it, I now have to format his whole computer in order to get it working properly).
Ø This week I am working on reports for the Annual General Meeting coming up in November. I did up the report for Ark Okahandja and I guess it looked too nice, they asked me to do ALL of them!
Ø Made a trip to Rehoboth with the National Director, Walter Nel. I took photos of the kids and the Ark, as the house parents who are currently at the Ark are leaving in 3 weeks. They must find new house parents and so I am developing a Power Point presentation and newsletter for promotion in the churches.
Ø Teaching the cook and assistant house parent how to make soups and stews, for better supper meals (currently they only eat bread for supper; the big meal is at lunch).
Ø Babysitting for mom’s when they have work to do with CHI (Christ’s Hope International).
Ø Celebrated a birthday the 21st of September.

Talitha is doing well back in NB with my brother Roger. She is enjoying school (as much as you can), and loves spending time with her grandparents also. She attended a ladies retreat where she met a lady who taught her some guitar, she has apparently picked it up quickly. She spent Thanksgiving at my parents with a whole lot of family and is traveling down to Maine this week to see more! She has also had the chance to visit my oldest brother and his wife, Vince and Anne as they are on holiday back east.

Meagan has also been busy helping the people of CHI with different things. Here is what she has been up to.
Ø Beading for the Choose to Wait program as a fund raiser. She is doing a lovely job and it is keeping her quite busy.
Ø Babysitting for 2 of the missionary families quite regularly, one family from Florida, Jim and Joy Baker, frequently.
Ø Schooling in her spare time (actually she has been doing much better now that Joy has been helping out).
Ø Getting to know some of the teenagers at the Ark, having them over and inviting them to our church in Windhoek. She enjoys spending time over there and has made some good friends.
Ø Helping with Choose to Wait Clubs on Monday and Wednesday’s, either ‘at’ club or by watching Joy’s kids.
Ø Getting to know people at the church in Windhoek, she really enjoys keeping the Angolan connection.
Ø Planning a trip to Angola (if the Lord is willing) with her friends Ju and Edul Chitomba when they go home for break the end of November. She will probably stay a month. There are 2 weddings she has been asked to be a part of.
Trevor has been doing well also. Here is what he has been up to.
Ø Beading for Choose to Wait, he even made up his own ‘new’ design.
Ø Gardening in the yard, and helping his dad to keep up on the watering.
Ø Shooting with a hand gun at a farm just outside of town.
Ø Making friends with some of the kids at the Ark.
Ø Doing school work (of course)!
Ø Giving his mom fantastic back rubs.
Ø Helping his dad do some baking.
Ø Cleaning out a large water dam at a farm not far from here. He helped scrub it with wire brushes so that it could be filled with water and allow them to cool down on these ‘hot’ days!
Ø Cleaning up our new yard.
Ø Helping with the little kids.
Ø Attending Choose to Wait primary program.
Ø Celebrated a Birthday on the 4th of September.


Tavis has also been busy, as he can’t really sit still for too long… This is what he has been up to.
Ø Shooting with a hand gun at a farm outside of town.
Ø Doing school work (he is doing well).
Ø Enjoying shopping with us.
Ø Loving astronomy! He got a telescope for his birthday and he was thrilled at his first up close sight of the MOON!
Ø Cooking, he loves cooking.
Ø Helping with the little ones who come to our house, he is great with little kids.
Ø Attending Choose to Wait primary program.
Ø Celebrated a birthday on the 5th of October.

We enjoyed a visit from Pastor Zebedeu (from Namibe, Angola), he stayed with us for 5 days, and it was a good time together! We also enjoyed a visit from Dr. Steve Collins (Uncle Steve) and Paul Holden from Angola! Thankfully we have room in our new place for company. We were able to meet up with several missions from Angola in Windhoek this last month, Gary and Doreen Toews (MAF), the McBeth Family (Baptist Mission), Donna Foster (SIM) and Carolyn (their kids’ teacher, SIM), Dr. Karen Hendrickson (SIM, returning from her 6 month furlough), Peter Ritchie (SIM). We are expecting Becky (SIM) from Angola the end of this month, and Telo Siame from Zambia (she attending college in Kamloops the year before we left). Since we are so close to Windhoek we are able to meet up with many Angolan missionaries who are traveling on to Angola, this makes us happy!


As for Christ’s Hope Namibia, there are some needs and concerns that need to be addressed.
Ø First is the situation at Rehoboth, the old house parents are leaving and they are in need of new ones (there are almost 30 children in this Ark). The building is in need of some major repairs, and for that they need funds. The Ark depends on donations from the ‘mobilization’ countries, and they currently are having difficulty paying their staff; which makes it difficult to do the many repairs.
Ø The Ark in Okahandja could also use funds to help with the daily running of the Ark.
Ø The Ark in Keetmanshoop (more than 30 children) has urgent repairs that are needed; the funding again is not available.

If you are interested in helping out with donations or coming here on a short term mission trip to help out with doing repairs please send us an email.

We want to say a special thank you to those who have given financially to our family. Information on how and where to give you will find at the end of this email. We thank those of you who are praying for our family regularly also. We hope you have enjoyed this update, please send us a note and let us know how you are doing! We love hearing from our friends and family!

God Bless,
The Knightly Family

Knightly Family
c/o Christ's Hope,
P.O. Box 9979,
Eros Windhoek,
Namibia

Charlene's Cell: 264 81 301 8798
**Pete's NEW Cell: 264 81 317 4600
Meagan's Cell: 264 81 314 6890
(use YAK 10 10 925 011 for $0.29 a minute)
Skype: knightvision5

websites:
http://knightlyfamily.blogspot.com/
AND
http://spaces.msn.com/members/knightvision6/






How to donate funds to the Knightly Family!

Donations in the US can be mailed to:
Christ's Hope -US
PO Box 52038,
Longwood, FL
32752-0328
(When sending support for our family, please indicate on a separate piece of paper that it is for the "Knightly Family")

Donations in Canada only until December 2006 (for Canadian receipts) can be mailed to:
Hillcrest Baptist Church
c/o Hillcrest Mission Fund
1393-9th Ave
Kamloops BC V2C 3X6
250-372-2021
(Please make cheque out to Hillcrest Baptist and write on a separate piece of paper that is it for the Knightly Family)

Non-receiptable option:

Pete’s Parents
Pete and Charlene Knightly
c/o Ron and Marge Knightly
Box 4 Fort Steele BC
V0B 1N0
250-426-4782