Fundraising dinner a success for orphans
The Christina Swart-Opperman Aids Orphan Trust?s 8th fundraising gala dinner
was held earlier this week at the Safari Court Conference Centre with the theme
‘Our beautiful children, our beautiful country’.The posh event, which attracted
an array of well-known people in the country, including the Deputy Prime
Minister, Hon. Libertine Amathila, featured poems and cultural performances by
the 64 children that benefit from the Trust. The Polytechnic choir, South
African songbird Jennifer Jones. and the three course traditional cuisine were
some of the highlights of this gala dinner. According to Dr Christina
Swart-Opperman, it is estimated that more than 15 million children under the age
of 18, worldwide, have been orphaned as a result of AIDS.The fundraiser was
aimed to raise funds for sports development for the children in the project and
to help continue with the current projects as well as embarking upon identified
assistance for additional homes and families.The children’s cultural
performances included all 13 cultures of Namibia and together they sang ‘We are
the World’ with Jennifer Jones while director of ceremonies, Lazarus Jacobs kept
the guests entertained.Guest speaker, Minister of Education, Hon Nangolo Mbumba
said when the Christina Swart-Opperman Trust was launched in 2003, a welcome
light appeared in the darkness, a darkness caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. HIV
is more then a public health issue,It needs the involvement of all levels and
components of the society, he said.The Christina Swart-Opperman Aids Orphan
Trust was launched in February 2003. Currently 8045 children have benefited from
the Trust since the launch and they still have over 2000 children on a waiting
list that need funds. The Trust is a registered NGO with a Patron and a Board of
Trustees.