Educate 20000 Namibian teenagers on HIV using Arts

As you know, the Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO) is a Namibian NGO that uses Arts to create social awareness.

The last four months have been very productive at OYO.

Last time, we reported about our ambitious project ‘looking through the lenses of street children’ thanks to the German Embassy. After interviewing 17 children living in the streets, and 4 juveniles who have lived in the streets prior to being in conflict with the law, we created a script and shot our film. During the last four months, we worked on the editing, the music, the sound post-production and the colour grading. We also developed the trailer. The film is now almost ready and we are looking at a premiere towards end January 2024. But almost more importantly we had our first stakeholder engagement meeting. We invited representatives from ministries, the UN and NGOs to present the work done and discuss how we can put the issue of street children on the agenda. It was a productive first discussion. Our aim is really to start addressing the increase of children living and/or working in the streets in Namibia.  

The dance troupe has been involved in two major Art productions. On 04 August 2023 at the National Theatre of Namibia we staged ‘Remembering Johnny’. It was a tribute to French singer Johnny Hallyday. It was not a traditional OYO’s work – it is not aiming at creating awareness. It is however part of our commitment to uplift the Arts in Namibia. Besides the dancers, it involved 50 teenagers singing some of Johnny’s songs. A free matinee was offered to schools in and around Windhoek, to encourage teenagers to appreciate performances – we need to develop audiences in Namibia, and this is a way to do it. A public performance was organised for the general public in the evening. It was a resounding success and we would like to thank STAFE (French Consulate in South Africa) and the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre for supporting this event.

The second major project was ‘a picassiana dance’, staged at the National Theatre of Namibia on 19 October, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain. We paid tribute to Pablo Picasso who died 50 years ago. Again, it was not a traditional OYO work. It was very abstract: our response through dance to the paintings, collages and sculptures of Picasso. We again had a matinee for school children and an evening for the public. People were both impressed and surprised. Many had not expected such a performance. And while many acknowledge they were not sure what to expect, all concluded they got more than what they had expected. Main comments include that the show was outstanding, emotional, and a piece of Arts on its own. One of the nicest comments received was from one participant ‘I had seen images of Guernica. I have actually even seen it in Spain. However, I never really felt anything for the painting. Looking at the choreography, I could suddenly hear the screams and feel the horrors the civilians must have felt. The dance brought the painting to life for me. I will never look at this painting the same way.’ Another comment includes (still about the Guernica section) ‘you managed to create a piece of Art about THE artwork of the 20^th century.’

We are not forgetting our main commitment to create social awareness. We continued with our project ‘gentlemen and supergirls’ to address gender-based violence in the Ohangwena, Oshana and Omusati region. Our photo project ‘the caring Namibian man’ toured Oshana and the school competition was concluded. The project will expand in 2024 to the Kunene region and the first visit to participating schools took place.

The end of the year however is difficult. We didn’t manage to secure projects for the World AIDS Day – sadly it seems to be less of a priority for many agencies. We also haven’t sorted out our transport problem – so we opened another page to help us fundraise for transport too. We really thank wholeheartedly those of you who are still supporting us. We know times are difficult, and there’s many projects crying for help all over the world. We therefore value your support tremendously.

Our link are still: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/using-arts-educate-4000-namibian-teenagers-on-hiv

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-oyo-buy-a-new-car

If you have any friends who may be able to support us, please do share the link. We greatly appreciate all the support we can get, no matter how big or small.

Links:

• OYO official website
• OYO facebook