Namibia and AIDS, initiatives of the community and how to handle the biggest problem of the country…

It’s been a little while that I haven’t written anything although I really want to explain how things are going here! The fact is there are lots of things to do and so many things to tell but I haven’t had that much time… Time flies here, I want to do my best to get the best possible results and Namibia is such an amazing country, you only want to discover so many things, landscapes, people here… But I’ve now decided to sit at my desk to take time to tell.

 

The project is running quite properly with its frustrations from time to time, you would like people to respond to your motivation and most of them are but if only one is negative about NSF it can actually bring you down. I don’t count anymore the times I fixed an appointment and the person was simply out of the country, in another meeting or forgot about the appointment… Fortunately the majority of people are very enthusiastic and it can enlighten your day to have only one person telling you “your initiative is so good and needed here; we’ll support it 100%”! My main role since I started was actually to raise awareness about the existence of the Clinic so I spent hours telling what NSF is doing, what services we provide and what we expect from the local community. The more I talk about the more convincing I am, I really truly believe in the Foundation and consider the Walvis Bay Clinic a bit like my baby now even though I’m doing a very small part of the job! All the people from NSF are extremely helpful and I’m grateful for their availability, thanks to Ian and Paul to listen to my complaints from time to time!

 

Another of my purpose is to try to find out what kind of protocols need to be followed in order to act in accordance with the Namibian Ministry of Health regulations… I am not a pharmacist but now start to understand a bit! Namibia is rather strict compared to most of the African countries and such initiative can be kicked out of the country if you do not follow the rules properly… Since we don’t want that at all, I have spent quite some time with members of the Ministry of Health. The main thing to achieve now is for our Nurse to be able to perform testing. Currently we are setting up a partnership with another organization which will perform the testing for us two evenings per week, they are allowed to perform outreach testing and are very happy to come and work at our Clinic, we are as well, believe me!! I have worked with Doriana from New Start on this and regularly meet up with her. She is one of the persons who amaze me the most. You simply cannot find anybody more positive and calm then her! They have very good results in the area and we’re trying to work together a lot as she has a lot of experience. Our initiatives are definitely completing each other and that’s what Walvis Bay needs, coordination in all the HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.

 

I have now relocated to Walvis permanently as the organization of the Launch is approaching very quickly! It will take place on the 1st of December and everything is almost finalized, we found some budget to organize it but I’m still working on some fund raising. The speakers are now confirmed and the invitations have been sent about a week ago. I’m happy to realize that many people helped me out with communicating the role of the Clinic and also helped me with everything around the proper protocols to be followed! Another thing about Namibia, there are protocols everywhere… when organizing such an event, you need to think about who has to talk first, otherwise it is very rude and people can definitely be angry and very upset! So our speakers will be the Regional Director of the Ministry of Health and one of the Councilor from the Erongo Region.

I really want to talk about the people here helping me out because without them I couldn’t have achieved this. First of all, Ivory, he is THE person to talk to in Walvis Bay regarding HIV/AIDS programmes, he knows everyone and everyone trusts him. He works for the Ministry of Fisheries as the HIV/AIDS prevention coordinator for the whole fishing sector. He is, unlike most of the people, going straight to the point, answering the phone, on time when we have to meet up, calling to see how things are going, even helping me find a catering and event Company for the Launch!! He’s been communicating about the Clinic to the whole Fishing sector and the worse thing is that he cannot even be attending the Launch! That’s a real pity and I don’t know how to thank him, he simply introduced me and Ian to the whole HIV/AIDS prevention community in Walvis. There are of course lots of other people such as Knowledge who is providing music, DJ, sound check for free at the launch, Doriana mentioned above, the Ministry of Health providing us with two big boxes of condoms for the launch (yes, no launch without condoms!), and of course the donors!

And there is this little initiative I’m particularly fond of… Liz from my guest house gives Art lesson to HIV positive children every week, this afternoon I will go along with her and all the children will draw a truck or a boat to put in the Clinic and make it colorful! I am so looking forward to meet them and of course hang the drawings on the wall!

 

The fact is the AIDS is a huge problem for the growth of Namibia, there is no need for statistics here… Most of the HR managers have given me clear example that it is affecting their resources so bad… One of the transport company has lost about 70% of its staff in the last 10 years because of AIDS, one of the fishing companies loses about 1 fisherman per month, another one regularly has to bring a vessel to the harbor because one of the guys is ill,… Fortunately the stigma is less important than it used to be and people talk about it more, they are not too afraid to be tested anymore, and ARV treatment starts to be a bit more available than it used to be so let’s hope that things will change soon. In any case, the number of people visiting the Clinic increases dramatically and we can see around 20 people per day now!

 

Of course so much to say… I will stop for now, let’s see what the future brings and I really hope the Launch will go as planned (obviously I haven’t worked here long enough to realize that it most likely won’t go as planned!) but I’m sure it will be a success in any case! I already received lots of positive reactions what I do hope is that the Walvis Bay Roadside Wellness Centre will have a long and efficient life, curing lots of people and that North Star will develop other Clinics in Namibia and everywhere in Africa to make sure that no truck driver crosses a border without putting a foot in our Centre, even if it’s only for a cup of coffee or chat a bit! The first steps will be working on a few new Clinics, the first one in Katima Mullilo, located at the very end of the Caprivi Strip; I’d love to work on this project, once you’re in such Foundation it is very hard to step out…. But I do not yet want to think about it as I still have a lot to achieve here in Walvis Bay!