By Clemence Tashaya
EENHANA – Eenhana’s Ombetya Yehinga Organisation (OYO)’s dance group, popularly known as Eenhana Youth Club, recently embarked on a one week tour aimed at raising awareness on HIV and AIDS, gender-based violence, alcohol and drug abuse and teenage pregnancy in various schools in the Ohangwena region.
The dancing group, which is made up of youths from all corners of the Ohangwena region, will began their tour in the Okongo constituency on July 21 before moving to the Oshikango Constituency on Friday where it ended with a big show at a senior secondary school in Oshikango. Eenhana Youth Club spokesperson, Mwanyekange Elkan Abraham, said, “We are going out there to administer to the learners in pursuit of our vision and mission of spreading and disseminating the message through music, drama, dance and visual arts. For this tour, we have partnered with the Ministry of Youths, National Service, Sport and Culture and the German TechnicalCooperation agency, GTZ, and the Ministry of Education to ensure that it is a success and we hope to get more schools willing to participate and inspire young learners in the region.”
The Eenhana Youth Club is currently riding high with their OYO dancing skills, which has become popular among many communities here in the region. They have participated and danced at many government events and functions in the Ohangwena region. Schools such as Oluwaya Combined School in the Okongo circuit, Enyana Combined School, Epembe Combined School, Onankali North Combined School, Oshikango, Omungholyo and Okambebe Combined School benefitted.
On Friday July 18, the group shared the stage with Omp’ tine, a musician here in Eenhana who performed at observance of World Population Day at the Eenhana stadium. The dancing group, which has eleven females and nine males, is also looking for sponsorship from corporate companies so that they can conduct tours to other regions in Namibia, especially in the Kavango regions, East and West, where there has been a high record of teenage pregnancies and alcohol and drug abuse.
The Club has been in existence for the past seven months under the watchful eye of OYO’s Secretary, Mwanyekange Elkan Abraham. OYO is a Namibian trust aiming at creating social awareness among young people using arts. It works with young people to target social issues such as HIV prevention, sexual health, alcohol and drug abuse, stigma and discrimination through writing, drama, dance, music and the visual arts. They provide programmes to youths who are both in and out of school for them to become informed and make better decisions.
Corporate organisations that want to help and donate towards the Club may contact Abraham at +264 81 733 7933