T

he WBMPC Trust is not only a monument of commitment to underprivileged people, but a compliment to the extensive network of co-operation between the United States as the donor, Namibia as the recipient country, and Walvis Bay as the town that benefited. Ordinary people made a difference in making the Centre a reality".

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Telecom donates N$ 10 000.00

Telecom Namibia has donated N$ 10 000.00 to the Walvis Bay Multi-Purpose Centre Trust in November 2006. According to the WBMPC Trust Director Ms. Olivia Namkomba said " the money will be used to buy computer to increase the demand of the computer training at the centre. She also noted that the computer training project is one of the income generating project at the WBMPC Trust.

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Sharing knowledge and experiences

Olivia Namkomba attended a one week workshop on the development and funding of HIV/AIDS workplace policy and programmes in Durban, South Africa. The workshop focused on skills needed for the development of workplace policies and programmes (WPP), including how to draft respective funding proposals.

This included the elaboration of a checklist for issues to be addressed by a comprehensive WPP as well as the necessary steps for proposal writing.

The workshop was organized by Invent, Capacity Building International , Germany – Economic Policy / Good Governance. Attendees included representatives from the SADC region encompassing Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa. Olivia was nominated as a representative for Namibia by the Invent office in Namibia.

"I had an opportunity to share information and expertise with the group and trainees. Most of all, I was impressed with the contributions that the facilitators and participants made with one aim: to make Africa a better place. I really improved my skills at this workshop and also learned new skills which I will definitely put to good use. I would like to thank the German Embassy for sponsoring my ticket, Inwent German for sponsoring my accommodation and meals."

The workshop also addressed HIV/AIDS related stigma as a continuing primary concern for everybody dealing with HIV/AIDS and people affected by it. The workshop pointed out ways in which stigma awareness can be raised in the workplace environment and preconditions for behavioural change.

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Herlyn: One Person Making a Difference

On the 20th June I was asked to deliver a speech in my experience with TB treatment with a group of 79 participants. I am Herlyn Uiras from the Walvis Bay Multi Purpose Centre In the year 2001 I started to get fever, lose weight and I was very sick.

My parents took me to a hospital and the nurse took my sputum and when the results came back they found TB in the sputum. It was about 8 tablets that I had to take each and every day and the distance from our house to the clinic was about 2km. In the street going to the TB clinic whenever people looked at me I thought they knew that I had HIV and by then people were saying if you have TB it is HIV.

Later I decided not to take the TB treatment cause I told myself that I am HIV positive and I do not have TB. I missed the TB dots and the nurse called in my parents and told them that

I was not taking the treatment, she was very kind and eventually we had a talk and I told her that I had tested HIV positive that’s why I don’t want to take the TB treatment. The nurse sat down with me and told me the importance of taking the TB treatment. Finally I took the TB treatment for 8 months and I got my weight back to normal. When I gave my speech I was a bit nervous but a lot of people learnt the importance of taking the treatment. At the Workshop we had group discussions and we talked about the way forward what we will do if we get back to our countries. I said I would educate the support group members on TB. I talked about the involvement of the WB MPC T in the fight against TB as well as HIV. In addition be more involved with the Ministry of Health in the fight against TB.

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