18 years in Namibia - also a milestone for project manager Sonja Schneider-Waterberg. A short interview:
Actually, every supporter of steps also knows the Okakarara location - the place, where it all began. You've been with us since the beginning - just like the founder of the foundation, Michael Hoppe, and all of the first times in Namibia The foundation of the Red Cross House, the first preschool, the first guardian angel children, the first income-generating step, the first volunteer. It has now been 18 years since you settled in Namibia and made it your home. For 18 years you have not only followed the development of Okakarara and steps for children, you have also helped to shape it.
How did it come about that you came to Namibia?
As a child, I always had the question in my head: „Why don't I actually live in Africa?“ After my A-levels, studies, traineeship and a few great years as a teacher, I applied for a sabbatical year to find an answer to the question of life in Africa. After two months in Okakarara, I already suspected that the answer was: „From now on, I'm living in Africa.“
2006: The first pre-school children together with Sonja Schneider-Waterberg in Okakarara.
We have already picked out important milestones that have shaped Okakarara and made it what it is today. What progress have you been particularly pleased with?
The The consistent establishment and further development of the Guardian Angel Programme, which has also been set up at all other locations, is a particularly pleasing process. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of numerous guardian angels, we have a social step in which we accompany at least some of the pre-school children for years, share their joys, sorrows and successes and make it possible for them to actually have a future that they can shape themselves.
In addition to progress, there have also been challenges in these 18 years - which of these do you particularly remember?
The greatest challenge and at the same time the greatest enrichment for all those involved is everyday intercultural interaction.
Are there any new goals for the Okakarara and Ongombombonde site that you are aiming for with your team?
Major goal 1: My utopian vision, which I am stubbornly pursuing: Build a team so strong no one can point out the leader.
Major goal 2: Ongombombonde as a Centre of Excellence for regenerative, sustainable, holistic agriculture - a place of learning for children & adults, the steps team, the surrounding community, the inhabitants of the communal land east of Ongombombonde and for all those who are interested in what they see developing there.
The community cohesion in Okakarara is great. What does it mean to celebrate an anniversary together with steps employees, but also with the community from Okakarara, who have regularly supported you on site in the realisation of various things?
While the institutions often have a hard time with us, they almost look a little longingly at our steady progress, we have received a lot of support from individuals, some of whom have supported us over the entire 18 years: also office holders who have been inspired by the steps idea, but above all countless people without office who feel comfortable with steps and contribute what they can.
f.l.: Sonja Schneider-Waterberg with Festus Tjikuua, member of the Board of Trust from the beginning, now Chairman
Your role as project manager of steps Okakarara remains - but since the end of 2023 you are also National Coordinator and thus responsible for steps in Namibia. Congratulations to you! What has changed since then?
The workload 
Overall, the new task offers the opportunity to transfer proven instruments from Okakarara to the other locations after review and adaptation in the group of project managers, thereby simplifying the work on the one hand and creating more synergies between the various locations on the other, in order to emphasise the special nature of the steps idea more clearly, while at the same time maintaining the individual character of the local projects.
We are delighted that we are also gaining an insight into the local celebrations from Germany and other parts of the world. With the anniversary in Okakarara, we are not only celebrating the location, but also the beginning of steps in Namibia. What contribution can I make as a supporter to promote the work of the foundation as a whole?
Stay committed to us. As hard as we are working to make the projects financially self-sustaining one day, we need the continued cooperation of our colleagues, supporters and donors in Germany and Switzerland, because true sustainability, based on a better mutual understanding and knowledge of each other's challenges and hopes, comes from cooperation between the northern and southern hemispheres.
Thank you so much for the interview and for sharing your personal experiences with us, Sonja!
