By Emma Kakololo
WINDHOEK
Namibian Aids activist Anita Isaacs was recently honoured for her outstanding leadership in response to HIV/AIDS by one of the world’s largest women organisations, the World Young Women Christian Association (YWCA).
The award, titled ‘Women Leading Change’, was handed over to her last month together with another 13 women from all over the globe of whom nine were from Africa.
She was given US$10 000 which she was asked to donate to her preferred organisation in the country.
Isaacs has, however, decided to open a trust fund to collect more money and start an organisation where fellow women also infected with the virus could come together and share their experiences.
World YWCA was started in 1855 in Europe with the aim to respond to issues faced by women and girls because of war. In 2003 the institution resolved to focus on issues related to violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Anita Isaacs went public on November 30 2002 about her HIV status and ever since she has been mobilising women to speak out about their problems and not to suffer quietly.
She then started a support group for the women who had gone public and as she became more dedicated to her work with HIV/AIDS she eventually left her job at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in June 2005 to join the YWCA project.
“The award I received is an indication that my dream became true for us women living with HIV to have our own association, a place for us where we can be open and discuss our experiences.
“We are still assets to our families and society. We need to come together and share,” she said.
She added: “The institution wants me to identify an organisation to donate the US$$10 000. I decided that if I give this money away, it would end up in somebody else’s stomach, while we have women out there suffering.
Therefore I am going to open a trust fund.”
Isaacs learnt in 1999 that she was HIV-positive when she became seriously ill. Her husband left her, but her five children stood by her and gave her the courage to fight the disease.
The trust fund would be known as the Anita Iyambo Women Health Trust, ‘Iyambo’ being her maiden name.