When a letter from Germany arrived at the pre-school of the Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek (DHPS) in February 2018, this was not only a great and pleasant surprise for the pre-schoolers and educators, but also the start of a wonderful pen-friendship.
The "Pfiffigen Kobolde” (smart goblins), a daycare centre near Berlin, want to exchange ideas with Namibian children of the DHPS, because they learned about the European storks migrating to the south during the cold German winter months and also fly to Namibia.

This letter, with photos, pictures and information laid the foundation for the current nature project at the DHPS pre-school, which first deals with migratory birds, in particular the stork. On Wednesday, 4 April 2018, the pre-schoolers welcomed hobby ornithologist Hanjo Böhme at the DHPS auditorium, who informed his small listeners about different kinds of storks and the European bee-eater: wing span, size, weight, flight routes, breeding season - the information was very interesting and astonished the little scientists.

“In addition to the exciting lecture by Mr Böhme, which was part of the project, the connection with Germany is a particularly stimulating experience for the children - linguistically and culturally", Katy Rosenau, Head of the DHPS pre-school explains.

The suggestion that babies are delivered by the stork in Germany, was quite amazing for the kids, and will certainly be mentioned in their response to the Pfiffigen Kobolde, which will also include their collected information, many pictures and crafts.

We are curious to hear about the German pre-schoolers’ observations about the bee-eater and look forward to more exciting nature projects at the DHPS pre-school.
A special thanks goes to Hanjo Boehme for his exciting and lively talk.