History
The Philadelphia Foundation for Orphans in Distress was established in 2004 and registered as a Trust in Namibia.
The project manager, Ellen van den Berg, is a Dutch social worker.
She studied in the Netherlands Socio-Cultural Work and worked several years as group leader in two institutions for people with mental disabilities.
In 1992 she moved to South Africa and earned her degree in Social Work at the Huguenot College in Wellington.
From 1996 to 2002 she worked as a social worker for the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Study
Through the University of South Africa Ellen continued her studies. She enrolled for a master degree in Play Therapy and in May 2007 she achieved the official master title.
A great achievement given the difficult circumstances and local conditions where she lacked sufficient capacity to electricity, internet and telephony in the years 2005/2006 and much of 2007.
The knowledge gained through this study is widely used in schools in the area, within families, groups and individual therapy and guidance to children and adults.
The first plans
Already in 2003 the idea originated to move to the north of Namibia, to one of the least developed areas of Namibia, to start a community project to support orphans and their caretakers.
After a long search for a suitable location, finally they got permission from the tribal chief to lease a piece of land.
The location is an area of 2 hectares on the banks of the Kavango river between the two small villages Tjova and Mbapuka.
In 2004 Ellen decided to quit her job and the project started.
Companion of the first hours
A companion of the first hour is Leoni du Plessis.
Leoni is a South African legal consultant who got her B-Iuris degree at the University of Bloemfontein and lives in Namibia since 1987.
The South African government seconded her to the Namibian Ministry of Justice where she served as Deputy Master of the High Court for 17 years.
In their work, Ellen and Leoni often had to do with each other, became good friends and also Leoni became enthusiastic for the project and decided to give up her career and devote herself entirely to the work of Philadelphia.
Besides the social part of the project, Philadelphia also has a Legal Helpdesk, to assist local people with legal inquiries and issues. Leoni is mostly involved in this part of the project and is also the Tourism manager at Camp Ndurukoro.
