Amos Meerkat: Teaching God’s way

Yochanaan Coetzee > Pull Quote: Alet van der Merwe, AMS National Coordinator: “We are proud to say that no child who completed the Amos Meerkat syllabus has ever been denied starting their first school year.” Early childhood development is key to ensuring optimal benefit of a child’s learning future potential.For many, however, access to education has been hampered due to the lack of proximity to the formal education system.These include those children residing on farms, villages and informal settlements.In an effort to empower these communities, the Amos Meerkat Foundation was launched to provide technical and material support for these early childhood development centres.During its nine years in operation, the foundation has touched the lives of tens of thousands of children, and has given teachers the tools they need to equip children for entry into junior primary education.A calling“We are an inter-church organisation and Section 21 company with a calling; not a moneymaking professional association,” Alet van der Merwe, the national coordinator for the Amos Meerkat syllabus, said.“The aim is not to facilitate jobs for the jobless, nor to interrupt or interfere with government’s education systems, but rather to equip people with valuable skills that they can use to uplift the children in their communities and give them a strong educational and religious foundation,” she added.The project is rolled out by Namibia Life Change Centre Foundation (NLCCF) and Amos Meerkat syllabus (AMS) which provides the curriculum and some of the materials to support the curriculum, including 12 modular workbooks for each learner. “We have put together a Christian curriculum and training programme in such a way that it will be possible for a trained ‘teacher’ to run a small pre-school for children on a farm or informal settlement.This we do through partnerships with local churches, businesses and farmers, and under the protection of Amos Namibia,” Van der Merwe added.Empowering educatorsThe goal of the project is also to equip existing pre-schools that do not have a curriculum - or whose current curriculum is not appropriate for their circumstances - to ensure that learners are educationally ready for grade one. Every teacher at an AMS school must attend two one-week training sessions six months apart. Teachers will be trained to use the curriculum and skilled, local overseers/mentors in each town visit the schools approximately once a month to monitor the implementation of the curriculum. In the case where the school is located on a farm or lodge, etc, the owner of the farm/ lodge where the school operates will act as a monitor/mentor. Since the inception of the initiative, over 1 500 teachers have been trained and nearly 30 000 children have directly benefitted from these interventions.“Our success is measured by the number of enrolments of our six-year-old children into schools to start grade one. We are proud to say that no child who completed the AMS has ever been denied starting their first school year.” “Some principals even praised the work that was done with the children and that makes us even more proud of our dedicated teachers who are using this syllabus to make a difference in a child’s life and preparing them for their grade one year,” Van der Merwe said with pride.Selfless synergiesDuring the first the Covid-19 national lockdown, the AMS became an invaluable tool in the emergency distance and online education project spearheaded by Namibia Media Holdings, in collaboration with the education ministry and a host of committed partners, stakeholders and sponsors.“Although it was sudden, unexpected and a tremendous challenge, we did not shut down the centralised activities of programme. We are so proud to say that we could carry on throughout the lockdown periods while strictly adhering to all the rules and regulations as announced by the authorities.“What made us immensely proud was to be part of a project initiated by NMH, where the ministry and NMH combined efforts to bring workbooks to parents to assist their children at home. We are proud to mention that AMS worksheets were used for the grade 0/1 workbooks,” she boasted.Fulfilling feedback“AMS is grateful to report positive experiences and feedback from our monitors, teachers and even the communities.“The hope we create and the value we add to people cannot be described in words, but the hugs and the tears show how grateful they are,” Van der Merwe said.The programme involves everyone in the community and some monitors even do extra classes with parents based on AMS material to empower them with character, listening and speaking and even writing and reading.“AMS takes pride in the fact that we try to reach the whole of Namibia. We give hope to many who want their children to excel in a tough world.“We could not do this without the relationship and financial support we receive annually from sponsors. It allows us to empower people to serve the children of Namibia by empowering them with the foundation education they need for the future,” she said with gratitude.To find out more or to engage with the foundation, contact Van der Merwe at admin@amosmeerkat.com.Disclaimer: These picture were taken before the covid19 pandemic.

Amos Meerkat: Teaching God’s way

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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Amos Meerkat: Teaching God’s way

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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