Namibia Handshake Project

For more than 22 years, our family-to-family partnership with an extended family in Windhoek, Namibia has focused on three essential goals:

1. Education

Helping children attend school with uniforms, supplies, clothing, practical school support, and the stability needed to remain in the education system. In 2026 we are supporting primary education for 7 children of four related families.

2. Wellness and Medical Support

Helping families respond to urgent medical needs, medications, nutrition challenges, and health emergencies.

3. Employment and Business Development

Helping young adults build skills, pursue training, and explore meaningful paths toward work, entrepreneurship, and independence.

Education is not simply about opportunity.

In Namibia, education can be a life-and-death matter.

The country made extraordinary progress after independence and in confronting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but many communities continue to live with the long-term economic and social consequences of those crises, compounded by COVID-era setbacks, unemployment, and severe inequality.

Education remains one of the most powerful tools for prevention, resilience, and long-term empowerment—especially for girls and young women.

Over these 22 years, children we first met at ages 4 to 18 have grown into adults building careers, businesses, and families of their own. Their progress is one of the greatest encouragements in this long partnership.

A New Phase: Toward Self-Supporting Solutions

While emergency support remains necessary, our long-term goal is not dependency.

Our goal is to help build practical, locally managed economic activity that strengthens the same three priorities: education, wellness, and employment.

We are now exploring and testing projects designed to meet real needs while generating sustainable local income:

1. Mobility equipment recovery and access
2. Recovering usable walkers and other assistive equipment in the United States for shipment and practical use in Namibia, where mobility support can be scarce or unaffordable.
3. Affordable sleeping room / housing improvement systems
4. Developing low-cost solutions to improve comfort, warmth, and living conditions for families in metal housing structures.
5. Food security and nutrition business models
6. Exploring bulk buying, local food distribution, and practical ways to improve access to nutritious food.
7. Publishing and educational partnerships
8. Creating opportunities for shared learning, storytelling, publishing, and self-education.
9. Collaborative product development
10. Exploring products and skills that may create international sales opportunities.

Today we are actively testing the first logistics systems for mobility equipment recovery and shipment.

Why Support Matters

We are 100% volunteer.

Our only operating expenses are communications, transfer fees, logistics, and direct project costs.

Current support helps with:

1. school continuity
2. urgent medical needs
3. nutritional support
4. business experimentation
5. shipping and logistics testing
6. educational and employment development

We work collaboratively with family members in Namibia, using modern communication tools to share decisions, documents, photos, and progress updates.

This is why we call it the Handshake Project—a partnership based on trust, love, accountability, and mutual empowerment.