Namibian Dreams

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question to ask, please send us an e-mail at info@namibiandreams.org.

How much of the money I donate actually goes towards the goals of Namibian Dreams, versus administrative and other miscellaneous costs?

We completely understand the reservations many people feel about contributing to organizations when they cannot be sure how much of their donation is actually going to benefit those they intend to help. That's why with Namibian Dreams we are committed to absorbing all administrative and operational costs (such as the cost of hosting and maintaining this website) ourselves, which means that 100% of your donation will go directly towards the girls' airfare. Once we have raised enough funds to pay for the girls' airfare, we will continue to direct any additional funds raised (fingers crossed!) towards worthwhile activities during the girls' trip.

Are you an official 501(c)(3) non-proft organization?

At the current time, no -- Namibian Dreams is not yet a legal non-proft, though we are serious about becoming one! (This also means that donations made to the Namibian Dreams project are not tax deductible.) Already we have filed for LLC status, which is one of the early steps on the path to the non-profit world; and we are in talks with a number of associates in the legal profession who are advising us on how to move forward towards obtaining official 501(c)(3) status.

For those of you still unsure, we also have a letter of endorsement from WorldTeach, the organization we worked for in Namibia.

Incidentally, if you are someone who can assist us in any way in this regard -- becoming a legally recognized non-profit organization -- please get in touch with us! We're looking for all the help we can get: legal advice, helpful tips and pointers from members of other non-profits, anything really. It is, as you can probably imagine, a pretty involved undertaking; and we'll likely end up needing a considerable amount of support from people like you to make it happen.

What provisions will you be making to ensure the safe travel of the girls from Namibia to the United States and back?

This is an understandable concern shared by the majority of people who first hear about this project. As these girls have never been outside of Namibia, let alone on an airplane, it is perfectly reasonable to question the viability of arranging for them to travel across an ocean for a 2-3 week trip.

The short and simple answer is that Kathryn (one of this project's co-founders) will be traveling to Namibia herself to personally accompany the girls on their trip from Namibia to the States in August.

For the girls' return trip to Namibia: most major airlines offer escort services for children unaccompanied by their parents or guardians. These services are offered for a fee and work as a sort of "hand-off" system whereby the parents/guardians stay with the children until the escort is able to retrieve them and shepherd them onto the plane. Upon arrival at their destination, the children are either escorted to the area where their hosts await them, or, if there is a layover (as will be the case with Meameno and Paulina), led to a special area in the airport designated for minors traveling alone and overseen by a member of the airport staff. When the time for their connecting flight nears, the escort fetches the children from the designated area and, as before, shepherds them onto the plane.

Naturally, the girls' families will see them off on their departure from Windhoek, Namibia in mid-August, as well as meet them upon their return in September.

Do I need to start a Paypal account to make an online donation?

Nope! Anyone with a credit card can go ahead and donate. You would only need a Paypal account if you wanted to send an instant bank transfer; however, this only makes sense if you don't have a credit card, or if you already have a Paypal account and prefer to use that payment method. Either way works equally well for us!

Is making a donation secure?

Yes, because the donation actually occurs on Paypal's website, which is quite secure. The only information sent back and forth between Paypal and namibiandreams.org deals with payment identification -- e.g., the contributor's name, the amount of the donation, and the status. This information is reflected in the list of donations posted on namibiandreams.org.

Can I make an anonymous donation?

Yes, you can! Simply mark the checkbox labeled "I would like to make this donation anonymously" before clicking the Donate button.

Why spend so much money on plane tickets for two girls? Wouldn’t the money be better spent addressing more pressing needs, for example by providing vaccinations or drilling a well?

This is another question which, though only a few have asked it, we suspect many may be privately wondering.

The answer is actually fairly involved, so if you want the long version you can go to Dan’s blog, where he’s posted a lengthy discussion on the issue.

The comparatively shorter answer, however, is this. People often think of "Africa" as a singular place of ubiquitous hardship and misery; and while there is significant suffering in many places all over the continent -- areas such as Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Sudan are obvious examples -- Namibia, by comparison, is pretty well off. To be sure, there are those in the country who could benefit from the provision of basic needs which are not being met; but then, there are plenty of international non-profit organizations already dedicated to meeting these needs, organizations which are large and efficiently run and are capable of using money for this purpose far more effectively than we could with Namibian Dreams as just two people.

Perhaps the best way to explain our goal is by drawing a comparison between Namibia and a place most of us are far more familiar with: the United States. In this country, as in all developed countries, there is suffering. It may not be as widespread as in other parts of the world, but there are homeless, sick, and impoverished people in just about every major town and city within our borders. And yet we have projects devoted to a host of issues aside from addressing the seemingly more urgent problem of caring for these needy citizens: projects to develop music and art programs in inner city schools; projects to provide scholarships for gifted children in low-income households; projects to create international student exchange programs between foreign and American institutions.

What good are these projects? Why do they exist? The answer, quite simply, is that there is more to life than simply being fed and being healthy. In other words there is more to life than mere survival. It would be one thing if organizations such as Unicef and World Vision did not exist and no one was stepping up to the plate to offer humanitarian aid to the Zimbabwes and the D.R.C.s of the world; but these organizations do exist, and if you want your money to go towards meeting fundamental human needs, please make donations to them. Namibian Dreams is about just what our name implies: encouraging bright young Namibians to have dreams, and enabling them to realize those dreams.

Meameno and Paulina are not just two girls who are close to our hearts. They are bright, energetic, outstanding leaders in whom we see the potential to make great contributions to their communities. Not only that, they are also looked up to by many of their peers in the village, which gives them a natural influence on others and makes them ideal candidates for spreading the sense of hope and optimism and possibility that so many children in Owamboland so desperately need -- far more than they need food or shelter or medicine, all of which is available to them already (again: Namibia, in comparison to most other African countries, is fairly developed). In this way, these two girls fit the profile of the kind of individual Namibian Dreams intends to target now and in the future: smart, hard-working, motivated, and above all exhibiting the potential to make an actual difference in their communities and in the lives of those around them.

As a sort of conclusion, we will pose a question for you to consider. In the case of your own children (if you don’t have children, imagine how you will feel about them if one day you do), would you be satisfied knowing simply that their basic needs are met, knowing nothing about the opportunities they will have in their lifetimes, or about their dreams for the future? Or, once ensuring they at least enjoy the basic necessities of life, do you want to do everything in your power to make sure they have all the opportunities this world has to offer, that they know what they are capable of, that they are not resigned to a life of narrow possibilities and circumstances beyond their control.

In the U.S., it is important to all parents that their children “dream big.” Why should we not want the same for the children of Africa?