HIV/Aids Africa

On Wednesday, 18 November 2009, Namibians will have the privilege to attend
another exciting fundraising gala dinner hosted by the Christina Swart-Opperman
Aids Orphan Foundation Trust.The CSOAOFT has become synonymous with events of
quality that effect true change in the lives of AIDS orphans and vulnerable
children in our country.Being nominated as the Economist Businesswoman of the
Year 2002 Dr Christina Swart-Opperman, a well-known HR specialist, founded the
Trust with the single focus of alleviating the plight of AIDS orphans and
vulnerable children in Namibia. With 75% of all orphans in Namibia being
HIV/AIDS orphans, this is a daunting task.A written application to the Trust is
evaluated by the Board of Trustees. The Trust never hands over money to any
successful applicant. Within the parameters of an approved budget items are
purchased and handed over to the applicant. As the Trust is managed as a
business, financial statements are annually submitted to the Trustees for
approval, comments and suggestions.To reach the objectives of the Trust, it has
to embark on fundraising events throughout the year. ?Our Beautiful Country, Our
Beautiful Children? fundraising dinner is just one such event.Swart-Opperman,
who is passionate about assisting children to cope with their circumstances,
says, ?A child is much more than his or her circumstances. Because a child has
no parents, does not mean he or she is not entitled to basic health services,
education and a wonderful future. All children are equal and special?.With the
fabulous Jennifer Jones as the guest artist and a menu reflecting our diverse
culinary culture, the evening promises to be an outstanding social opportunity
for individuals and corporate establishments to contribute to the future of the
country and the activities of the Trust.Jennifer Jones, multi-awarded South
African artist, is delighted to return to Namibia for this significant event.
Although she has toured with international artists such as the late Michael
Jackson, Dionne Warwick and Tina Turner, Jennifer is excited to perform a song
with some of the children currently supported by the Trust. With a repertoire
including Jazz, Soul, Funk, Opera and much more, the audience can be assured of
top class entertainment by an artist who has performed all over the world
including at the inauguration of former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo
Mbeki.Presenting sponsors, MyHealth, Namibia Breweries, First National Bank,
Tamonika Events, Business Connexion and Ohlthaver & List Group of Companies
and sponsors in kind, Safari Court & Conference Centre, Trip Travel,
Welwitschia Travel and Bank Windhoek , our contributing partners towards this
esteemed event, are deserving of our warmest gratitude and
appreciation.Namibians are encouraged to purchase tickets or tables for this
worthy event and thus making a difference to the future of many a child in
Namibia. To secure your table, contact Dr Swart-Opperman on 061-220
712.

The government says 40% of children in Namibia do not have birth certificates
to enable them to obtain social services.Minister of Gender Equality and Child
Welfare said the latest demographic and health survey reveals that about 40% of
Namibian children do not have birth certificates to be able to apply for social
grants.Marlene Mungunda said that the current trend is despite the fact that the
Namibian government was one of the first governments to develop and implement
national policies and procedures related to the care of children orphaned by
HIV/AIDS.”Much remains to be done,” she said, adding that in the past, her
ministry almost tripled the number of grants available to orphans and vulnerable
children (OVCs), but only about 30% of those in need had been reached.In
addition, it was estimated that some 14 000 children under the age of 15 years
were living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007 in Namibia. These children need
special support, care and access to treatment and medical facilities.Mungunda
further indicated that 90% of children living with HIV acquired the infection
from their mothers during pregnancy and at birth, or through
breastfeeding. “Every child growing up in an area with high HIV prevalence is
affected by the epidemic, regardless of whether they or their close family
members are infected,” she said.

Standard Bank
consolidates results in 2004
Standard Bank Namibia has said 2004 saw the bank
consolidating a number of initiatives.During the year ended 31 December 2004,
headline earnings increased by 10.4% and earning went up by 8.9% per
share.Managing director Theofelus Mberirua said the bank’s Best Bank Enhancement
Project was implemented in the year giving the Namibian branches a similar
branch layout like Standard Bank branches in Africa.Further, the ongoing
national payment reforms saw the formalisation of the shared services company
Namclear. Standard Bank as well as three other banks in Namibia each acquired a
25% stake.Mberirua said a dedicated risk and compliance management function was
established in 2004 as part of the banks anti-money-laundering initiatives.?In
as far as our human resources are concerned, we remain committed to a fair,
equitable and transparent human resources policy, focusing on the development of
human potential through on-the-job and internal and external training courses,?
said Mberirua.Approximately 994 employees each received 100 shares in October
2004 as part of the Standard Bank Group staff share incentive scheme.?The
group’s objective is to promote an inclusive equitable and diversity-friendly
working environment where share ownership by all employees,? said the managing
director. In November 2001, the bank implemented its HIV/Aids policy programme
under which various successful HIV/Aids training sessions have been conducted in
branches and departments.

Women in the Caprivi region are now more involved in natural resource
management and have taken leadership positions in conservancies, said Janet
Matota, co-head of the Caprivi Programme that is part of the Integrated Rural
Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC).Currently 37% of committees contain
female representatives, two conservancy managers and three game guards. And nine
out of 10 conservancy treasurers are women in the nine registered and eight
emerging conservancies in the region.This, according to Matota, was totally
unheard of in the Caprivi when the IRDNC was established in 1994.As part of its
objectives, the organisation has helped women to become more involved in natural
resource management. “Women are key players in natural resource management. They
plough the fields and ensure that there is food on the table. But they were left
behind in the decision making process; they had no say. Now women are supported
by the traditional authorities and rather then relying on men, they put their
own money on the table,” said Matota.The IRDNC aims to empower women through
training in public speaking and has started a program through which women are
trained in craft making. “We have trained 350 women in public speaking and women
now earn N$180,000 per year from the craft industry. With these earnings, they
buy things such as cattle and ploughs,” said Matota.The IRDNC is also involved
in disseminating information on HIV/AIDS and supporting orphans and vulnerable
children through paying their school fees and buying their school
uniforms.

This is an extract from the mayoral message for
the festive season of 2005 by the Mayor of Windhoek, Mathew Shikongo.
“The year 2005 was indeed a watershed for the City
of Windhoek, and I, as the Mayor of Windhoek, present our seasonal greetings and
express our profound appreciation for the unwavering support we received from
all the residents and tourists throughout the year in our quest to enhance
economic development as a concerted effort to improve the quality of life of our
people”, says Mathew Shikongo.”During the year, the city embarked on specific
development projects. Notable among these was the official opening of the Sam
Nujoma Stadium, the deployment of the long-awaited City Police, the opening of
the extension of Robert Mugabe Avenue and the completion of the construction of
the Southern Suburbs Swimming Pool in Olympia. These projects are capital
projects involving millions of dollars, and, given the limited resources at the
city’s disposal, are evidence of our commitment to progressive development.” I
would fail in my duty if I do not thank those that render services for having
supported us all the way. Without your support and guidance, your city thanks
the residents of Windhoek who constitute the electorate – also the clients
without whom the city would surely not have made a success. I would also like to
thank our tourists and visitors who have had the chance to come and relish the
vibrant melting pot of culture and languages in this city.Though many
challenges remain to be addressed to maintain the unstoppable momentum of the
city, the leadership forms a critical component of shaping the communities’
future. The most critical challenges facing us include the lack of distribution
of national resources to cater for social welfare cases on municipal services –
especially to pensioners, vulnerable and destitute residents, the increasing
debts against delivery of municipal services, the impact of HIV/AIDS and many
others.”Shikongo therefore call on the national government to consider
allocating resources to welfare cases on municipal services and appeal to
residents to continue paying their municipal bills in order to ensure
sustainable delivery of such services.”Observing the range of activities and
policies as set out by the city, I have no doubt that the City of Windhoek
justifiably earned the label of the ‘City of Excellence’ and will continue to
prosper even at an improved rate for many years.??As a city, we are cognizant of
the underlying philosophy of a democratic culture; which entails maximum
participation by the public in the running of the affairs of the city that
affects them, so that each community can, as far as possible, exercise its own
value preferences, determine its own community values and call its elected
representative to public account. I am therefore proud to say that throughout
the year we involved the public in all our operational activities as we strove
to face developmental challenges head on. This approach led to a sense of
ownership and belonging among the residents of the city. Today the city is
characterized by a vitality born of a sense of freedom and pride.As a team, his
fellow councillors, the management team and the staff, the council focused on
practical policy formulation and policy implementation with a clear vision in
mind. The city, however, took cognisance of the fact that the expectations from
the electorate are without limits and are not related to their ability to pay
for the municipal services rendered to them, Shikongo said. Yet, we have to
maintain the existing infrastructure and standards to promote an atmosphere for
investment and consequently create job opportunities, as we vowed not to
back-track on the good progress that we have made in the development of our
beautiful Windhoek.I would lastly like to render my deepest appreciation to my
fellow Councillors for their un-wavering and uncompromising support, commitment
and dedication over the past year. I wish you a Happy Christmas and festive
season, good health and a prosperous 2006. To all those who will be travelling,
please save lives by being careful.

With the aim of raising awareness among the
general public and the fighting against the destructive HIV/Aids pandemic, the
Polytechnic of Namibia held their annual HIV/Aids awareness campaign this
week.?It is tragic that at the onset of this new millennium the world is
confronted with the devastating HIV/Aids pandemic which is causing terrible
miseries and deaths of millions of people globally,? said the rector of the
Polytechnic, Dr Tjama Tjivikua.The awareness campaign was held in partnership
with students, staff and the public at Wernhill Park on Wednesday, 1 June. The
mayor of the city of Windhoek, Mathew Shikongo, said that HIV/Aids is robbing us
of our people and future successors. He urged all present to take this HIV/Aids
awareness campaign seriously and said the city of Windhoek will join and give
the necessary support. According to the organisers, the health of the nation is
a key determinant of our success and development.?HIV/Aids touches everyone, it
kills without conscience, rich or poor, black or white, young or old. More than
ever before we need to focus on what unites us, not divides us?, he quoted Sean
Combs (a.k.a P Diddy) as saying.According to Dr Tjivikua, as long as the world
is affected in any way by HIV/Aids, we had to accept that we are all affected.
This year was the Polytechnic’s ninth HIV/Aids awareness campaign and was themed
‘Reach out and Touch’. Various schools, representatives of children?s
organisation, individuals and members of the community joined the awareness
campaign.Dr Tjivikua thanked all the Polytechnic’s partners in education for the
support they provided and continued to provide. He offered a special and hearty
thanks to the city of Windhoek, UNICEF, UNFPA, First National Bank, MetHealth,
Namibia Medical Care and all the other sponsors and supporters.

‘The choice of a new generation’ so goes the Pepsi
poster advert in Nelao Haimbodi’s office. She is the student representative
council?s (SRC) secretary for publicity and information at the country’s biggest
tertiary institution, the University of Namibia (UNAM). This is the place where
Namibia’s modern politics are expected to originate from to tackle issues not
yet put to rest by the old fight against oppression.But this is not the case,
argue politicians, who say they young people of today suffer from political
apathy. They are not keen on taking up issues and continuing the fight the older
generation had passed on to the young generation.The Economist went to the UNAM
to solicit the views of the young people themselves on independence and
politics.From the outside, the apathy seems quite obvious. Young people have
their own war to fight. The war against HIV/AIDS is clearly visible from
Haimbodi’s posters on sexual reproductory health. The only political material in
her office is the poster campaign for 50-50 representation of men and women in
government.At least she is politically inclined. The office of SRC president
Moses Moses has nothing to show of his political inclinations. Not even visuals
of Independence Day which is just days ahead.What are we? What have we learned
from the past? How do we relate to Namibia’s Independence Day? How would we
define it?For Inyemba Kamwi, a student, the day represents ?freedom, in the
sense that we are allowed to be who we want to be and actually be where we want
to be?. Moses thinks of it as ? ? the time to think of what happened, the
achievements and accomplishments and of what we would like to change, put into
action certain things which we failed to address?.Levi Shilongo, also a student,
mentions ?rights for every citizen, black or white, to choose their own leader
in a democratic society. The right to pursue business freely?.It was Haimbodi
who tackled it from an interesting angle. She feels Independence Day can be
difficult for young people to understand; something they had never
experienced.?It has no profound meaning to them?. Why? ?Because you cannot miss
what you never had?. Hence the understanding of the day and the history is
restricted to the diverse intellectual and other abilities of individual young
people,? she says.According to these students, young people are not apathetic
towards politics. ?They are like sleeping lions. Just because they are asleep
does not mean you have to declare them harmless?, says Moses. Haimbodi says what
is needed is provocation.?Until were are provoked, there will not be much
activity like in the struggle. I do not mean a war but something that can
provoke young people to stand up and fight for their rights?, she says, adding
that she only sees that happening in the next generation.Zaa, another student,
says that just as it took a generation before the generation of Sam Nujoma
created Swapo, so it would be with the current generation.?Swapo did not start
the struggle. There were others before them. It is generations after
generations?.What needed to be fought against now is tribalism, which seems to
be prevalent at UNAM according to Moses.?In sport you see it. The teams consist
of people of one region, then tribes, and they do not mingle?. But he says UNAM
is not responsible for the creation of such evils but only for allowing it.To
others the problem is with race. ?At these so-called former white schools, white
children still refuse to mingle with black children. There are classes for
blacks and for whites?.Instead of waiting for provocation, perhaps it is time
for young people to provoke the situation before things go wrong.

OSSREA offers
senior scholars research grants
A regional research and capacity-building
organisation based in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), the Organisation for Social
Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) offers senior scholars
a research grant programme to carry out research that is on par with
international standards.The organisation’s mission is to develop and promote the
emergence of a culture of excellence in the study, research and training in the
social sciences.According to the OSSREA’s grant programme co-ordinator, eligible
applicants should be nationals of countries of Eastern and Southern Africa and
should be based in an institution. In addition, Africans who are non-nationals
of the region can also apply, but they should submit their employment
contract.Applicants should be affiliated with a teaching and research
institutions, and applicant?s institution must endorse the research to be
undertaken and be willing to provide some support to the applicant.Themes for
the research proposals are regional integration; conflict management, resolution
and post-conflict reconstruction; migration and refugees; education, indigenous
knowledge and development; information technology, culture and society; gender
roles, democracy and development; resource management and food security;
poverty, economy and society; health, economy and society; HIV/AIDS and cultural
practices; human rights; religion and society; governance issues in multi-ethnic
societies; and environmental concerns and pollution.The selection of the
research grants will be awarded on the recommendation of a panel of scholars
drawn from Eastern and Southern Africa. Applications should be mailed or
submitted to OSSREA before 30 June. Electronic submissions will not be
accepted.

IM
Youthcup
Namibian Senior Secondary School football teams
are well prepared for giving their all to try and walk away with the Coca Cola
Youth Cup 2005 and the prize money that is up for grabs. This is the second year
of the tournament, which begins on Monday, 20 June, and will be on until the
final weekend on Saturday, 6 August. The Coca Cola Youth Cup was officially
launched by the Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, John
Mutorwa, on Wednesday, 8 June at the Windhoek Country Club.Mutorwa said that
what came ? ? out of this competition contributes to other sectors of our
endeavours of education and health sector?.The theme for this year’s competition
is ?Youth Celebrating in a Magical Way? and the schools that did not get
coverage last year would be covered this year. According to Mutorwa, it is good
when ?we plan things out of which we have many results, positive to what we are
aiming for?. He further stated that ?sport is the most powerful magnetic tool to
bring people together. We are extremely grateful that Coca Cola is willing to
sponsor for the second time.?According to Frik Oosthuizen, the general manager
of Namibia Beverages, the sports directorate will have regional representatives
present at the games to select their best players out of the entire national
tournament. And the selected players will represent Namibia in the COSSASA Cup
2005.The Minister said that the Coca Cola Youth Cup should be used by national
team players; selectors should use and see this competition as an opportunity to
scout for possible talent for the national team. He went on to say that the
selectors should not only look at league team players, but also use this as an
opportunity for scouting for young talent to build and prepare the Brave
Warriors for the 2010 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa.Last year’s winners
of the cup was the Caprivi Secondary School that walked away with the coveted
prize of N$70 000. During last year’s competition, a total of 128 games were
played and 560 goals scored. For every goal scored, a N$100 was to be donated to
the fight against HIV/Aids. In total, N$56 000 was raised for the fight against
HIV/AIDS. ?It is the responsibility of corporate organisations to play an their
role against this pandemic,? said Oosthuizen.Mutorwa said that he could testify
on the spot about the enormous impact the prizes had on the schools based on the
levels of development that took place in the various constituencies. The Caprivi
Secondary School used some of the money to refurbish two classrooms, sport
fields and acquire computers. The other schools were also able to acquire
computers and sports equipment.?It gives school-going children the experience of
a lifetime and an opportunity to reach for their goals. It’s important for Coca
Cola to play a key role in developing talent in this country. We are indeed
pleased to be involved in a sports campaign, which has such a fine return aspect
in being able to assist with the education, health and soccer development of the
youth in Namibia? said Oosthuizen.The Minister also praised the discipline of
the players the previous year. He also said ?We have to work together in terms
of promoting sports. I wish you all well all of you who are going to participate
in this cup.?Oosthuizen thanked the media for their continued support. The total
amount of the cash prizes is N$122 500, and the winners will walk away with N$70
000.

President Hifikepunye
Pohamba said this week while Namibia has achieved encouraging successes in the
fight against HIV/AIDS specifically on treatment, care and support, new HIV
infections continue to emerge.Pohamba said when he opened the 2009 HIV/AIDS
implementers? meeting in Windhoek that the meeting comes at a time when the
effects of the global economic crisis are being felt in all parts of the world,
adding that the crisis may have a negative impact on the funding of HIV/AIDS
programmes.?I would, therefore, like to encourage all the partners and
representatives of donor countries to continue providing funding for HIV/AIDS
programmes and other endeavours aimed at supporting social and human sustenance
and development in the developing world,? he said.He said the meeting represents
a renewed call to all partners to continue working together to fight the AIDS
pandemic, adding that the gathering serves as another important platform to
showcase the successes that been achieved over the years.?This in turn should
motivate everyone to persevere in the noble work that is being done,? he said.He
warned that the HIV/AIDS pandemic still remains one of the biggest global
threats to mankind, adding that despite promising global efforts to address the
pandemic, the number of people living with HIV continue to rise, as does the
number of deaths due to AIDS.