By William Mbangula Oshakati The Annual General Meeting of the anti-HIV/AIDS community-based project, TKMOAMS (meaning Tate Kalunga Mweneka Omukithi gwoAIDS moshilongo shetu – roughly translated, Almighty God help stop the AIDS pandemic in our country), has re-elected three of its six members to the board of trustees. At the AGM held at Okatana on Wednesday, May 23, Efraim Iipinge of the Catholic Aids Action (CAA), Terina Stibad of Yelula IBIS and Piet Williams of Oshakati Pharmacy were re-elected. The other new board members are Loide Nekundi, a social worker, Karolina Shiyagaya, a nurse, and Lotto Kuushomwa, the Councillor of Oshakati East. According to the TKMOAMS Project Manager, Leonard Shikololo, the AGM was not only called to conduct elections but many pertinent issues were also discussed relating to the HIV/Aids pandemic, as well as revision and adoption of the constitution, funding, identification of the patron, awards presentation and review of membership fees. TKMOAMS is a community-based organization which was established in 1996 as part of the campaign to fight the HIV/Aids pandemic at community level. Some of its aims and objectives are: – to minimize the social ills caused by the pandemic through material support to clients and their families; – to provide a programme of support (material and psychosocial) for orphans and vulnerable children by providing them with school uniforms and materials (so far 440 children have received uniforms); – feeding and resilience-building for their survival; – to sensitize the public and to promote positive attitudes towards people living with HIV/Aids and their families in order to reduce the stigma of the pandemic by providing correct information about the disease and speaking positively in the communities; – to dispel the fears of family members contracting HIV/AIDS through casual contact; – facilitating care of infected and affected people and preparing the family for and supporting them during bereavement by offering counselling to families; – to improve the ability of people with HIV/AIDS in order to cope with and empower infected persons to make informed decisions that improve the quality of their lives and achieve a balance between their rights and responsibilities; and – to restore hope and improve the quality of life of people and communities affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic through home-based care (2ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 500 clients are being served), education and training. Founded by nurses working at Oshakati Hospital 11 years ago, the organization operates in 38 communities in Oshana, Omusati and Ohangwena . Each group has a Community AIDS Committee (CAC) comprising a chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary and treasurer. Traditional and church leaders are usually involved as advisers. So far, the organization has seven permanent employees, four part-time volunteers, more than 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 trained home-based care volunteers in the different communities (the majority of these are women), 38 CAC and 21 community counsellors. Shikololo further explained that the organization provides home-based care and support for more than 1ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 clients a month and supports more than 600 orphans and vulnerable children with still more room to assist up to 2ÃÆ’Æ‘ÀÃ…ÃÆ”šÃ‚ 000 children if and when all the volunteers are active. Until now, six soup kitchens feeding vulnerable children are operational at Oneshila, Omaalala, Onamutayi in Oshana Region and three more in Omusati Region such as Othika, Onakapya and Eendombe. Apart from its own activities, the organization has also helped others in training and sharing information such as the Total Control of Epidemic, Kayek. Such training is focused mainly on basic information on HIV/AIDS and community mobilization. Again, assistance was extended to the UNAM Northern Campus for the orientation of their student nurses more specifically with relation to how to care for and support clients, including orphans and vulnerable children. Some of the Volunteers Service Overseas (VSO) workers are also hosted by TKMOAMS when they visit the country for the first time as part of the orientation process. TKMOAMS, being a growing community-based organization, needs financial and material support for the implementation of its community programmes, said Shikololo. Some of its traditional financiers are Yelula IBIS from Denmark, Africa Group of Sweden, the French Embassy, NAMDEB, the government of Namibia which provides HBC (home-based care) kits, and the Family Health International of USAID. The founding chairperson, Diana Shilongo, was honoured with an award and was also appointed as the patron in appreciation for her long service and dedication to the organization.