Retirement Can Become a Happy Time

I was retired for medical reasons in 1994. However, by 2000 I felt my health had returned sufficiently that I could go to a mission assignment. So I began looking for a place where I could make a contribution while still maintaining my health. I needed to find a country where I did not have to learn a new language and I also realized that it was not good to try to go backwards; that is, return to a country where I had worked in my younger years.

After some searching, I was invited to visit Namibia in Southwest Africa. In January of 2004, I came here on a three month tourist visa. During those three months, I was able to discover that I could make a contribution here, that I could work in the English language, that living conditions were good enough that I could maintain my precarious health, and finally that I would not be a burden to the Maryknoll personnel already working here. I had to leave Namibia at the end of my tourist visa. However, I returned within a couple months as soon as I got my work visa.

I now serve the local church in two different ways. First, I assist Archbishop Liborius Nashenda, the Archbishop of Windhoek, with his computer and technical needs such as constructing and maintaining a website for the Namibian Catholic Bishops Conference. Second, I work with AIDS orphans in the poorest section of the capital city Windhoek.

The bishops had wanted a website for some years but did not feel the Catholic bishops could afford the cost of creation and maintenance. Therefore, my offer to create and maintain the website was readily accepted by them. The name of the website is "Roman Catholic Church of Namibia" and the URL address is: www.rcchurch.na. The website is already up on the internet and each month I add more parish, school, or hospital webpages. My next challenge is to begin training a local religious to maintain the website because at age 69, one never knows when God will call me. I also will be teaching a course on computers at the national major seminary in Windhoek.

AIDS orphans present a huge challenge here in Namibia; through no fault of their own, they have become almost like the modern day lepers. They have no parents, they are terribly poor, and over 50% of them are HIV positive and at least 25% are fighting AIDS themselves. I felt called to this particular ministry because having suffered radiation poisoning during the First Gulf War, I too, suffer from a damaged immune system. However, my damaged immune system does not continue to deteriorate as does an HIV positive child. To this end, I devote most of my time and all of my money to serving these orphan children. The project through which I work is the Children's Hope Project.

We run a soup kitchen six days a week for 150 to 200 orphans. I provide all the food which consists of rice, beans, peas, cabbage, potatoes, onions and beef or chicken soup powder plus fresh bread. Before their meal, we also provide a glass of e'pap which is a nutrition supplement for AIDS children. After their meal we try to provide either a lollypop or a piece of fruit. The dietitian at the Catholic Hospital helped me determine the menu to make sure the children are getting proper nutrition. The signs of malnutrition are declining with each passing day as one sees the children looking more and more healthy.

We also run a School Readiness Program for older orphans. They have not been in school at all and cannot get into school without some preparation. We have some 40 or 50 children in the program. They are taught by young volunteers from various countries who usually are expatriate girls like you would find in Peace Corps. One volunteer is Mary Beth Gallagher who served two terms as a Maryknoll lay missionary in El Salvador and now is serving in Namibia as a volunteer. The children come at 8 a.m. and we give them a breakfast of corn meal mixed with sugar and peanut butter for flavor. Then they attend class all morning.

We have just begun another program for those orphans who have completed the school readiness classes. We now have 15 of these children in a public boarding school in the country. The boarding school is designed for farm worker children who do not live near a school, and it is supported by the government. Therefore, our cost is only US $250 per student per year which makes it very affordable. It is a great success; it not only provides the children a place to live but it also provides them with an education. I help to financially support this great program.

Retirement can become a happy time if one can keep busy doing the Lord's work. I am now happier and healthier than I was in retirement in the U.S.A., and I pray God will continue to sustain me as I tend these poor orphans in his flock.

Wayne's Biography           Wayne's Ministry

See Wayne's work at the Soup-Kitchen

Maryknollers in Nambia