Dr Allen Zimbler
Chairperson of the Board
Allen Zimbler is the former Executive Director and Chief Integration Officer, Investec Group (retired) and board member for the African Leadership Institute. A former professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, his interest in the Bushmen of the Kalahari has spanned over 40 years.
Charl Celliers
Board member
Charl Celliers is a Namibian registered Chartered Accountant and Managing Partner of BDO Namibia. Charl is an avid African ‘Bush Lover’.
≠Oma Tsamkgao
Vice-Chair
Better known as Leon, ≠Oma is a tourguide by profession, and often works as an interpreter and with international film teams that come visit the region. He is currently a committee member Committee of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. Leon was elected as a Vice Chair of JDF in 2023.
Simon Steyn
Board member
Simon Steyn is a lawyer at BDO Namibia. Simon is passionate about the Ju/‘hoansi Bushmen and supports the Ju/’hoansi Development Fund in all legal matters.
Sanet Steenkamp
Board member
Ms Sanet Steenkamp is the Permanent Secretary of Education, Arts and Culture. She has a wealth of experience in leadership and management.
Dr Alexandra Parrs
Board member
Alexandra is a sociologist with years of experience doing field work and teaching all over the world, and a strong focus on education and community empowerment. She spent 2 years working for the NGO TUCSIN Tsumkwe. She is currently teaching sociology at American University in Washington, DC.
U C Tjivikua
Board member
Director of Education in Otjozadjupa Region.
He has worked in the EducationSector for over 25 years and is very passionate about improving educational access for indigenous communities.
Dr Caryn Solomon
Caryn is an Organisational Change and Behaviour Specialist and has an interest in improving mother-tongue education for the Ju/’hoansi community
Jeunesse Park
Project Development Consultant
Jeunesse Park founded and ran Food & Trees for Africa for 25 years, introducing urban forestry, urban agriculture and Permaculture to South Africa. She is passionate about healthier people on a healthy planet and knows that the San have much to teach us.
Dr Jennifer Hays
Jennifer Hays is and anthropologist Associate Professor at the University of Tromsø, Norway. She has conducted fieldwork on education for indigenous communities, with a specific interest in the Nyae Nyae Village Schools. Jennifer is the author of Owners of Learning. The Nyae Nyae Village Schools Over Twenty-five Years.
Peter McKenzie
Peter is a retired school principal of forty years’ experience, much of it in Africa. Although born in the UK, he now calls Namibia home.
David Bruce
David Bruce is co-founder of the Ju/’hoansi Development Fund. He studied photography at the University of Arts in London. The Ju/’hoansi call David ‘Bagon/hui’, loosely translated it means ‘able to hear’. With a hearing below speech level David wears a bone anchor hearing aid.
Chief Tsamkgao #Oma
Affectionately known as Chief Bobo, Tsamkgao #Oma is a chief of the Ju/’hoansi people in the Nyae Nyae area. He has always advocated for better education and has been involved in the Village Schools Project from the very beginning.
Nicolette van der Meer
Nicolette van der Meer has supported the Fund from 2008 till May 2021. She was vital in the set up of the Village School Project: helping to draft the project proposal, organising a crowd-funding initiative, and the initial roll-out of the local programs and the building project.
Saskia den Adel – Sheehama
Anthropologist / Project Manager
Saskia has been involved in community development in Namibia for over 25 years, and has recently started working as the part-time Director of the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation, as well as a part-time Project Manager for the Village School Project.
Festus Soroab
Festus is a qualified teacher working for the Ministry of Education. He was recruited to assist with the mentoring and training of the village schools teachers. He is passionate about improving the education of the Ju/’hoansi San children and to help the teachers of Nyae Nyae village schools become qualified San teachers so that they can provide quality mother-tongue education to their own community.