GIBEON
Three young entrepreneurs collaborated on a charity project, named ‘Three Lenses, One Focus’, and raised N$19 000 for a children’s home in Gibeon within two weeks.
The trio, comprising of three photographers Victoria Torii Ashipala from Victoria Photography, Anna Akwenda from Azo Photography and Nathan Chituti from Motion in Pixels Photography, put their skills to work by doing a limited number of family and portrait shoots at a massive discount to attract more people.
The shoots were offered at a rate of N$500, a bargain compared to the original price of N$2 200. After promoting the initiative for two weeks, 24 photo shoots were booked and carried out over a weekend in Windhoek, Otjiwarongo and Swakopmund.
From these N$12 000 was raised. Tuna Willem, the chief sustainability officer of Namsov Community Trust, which is 100% owned by Namsov Fishing Enterprise, caught wind of the project via Instagram and pledged N$7 000 on behalf of Namsov towards the cause, thus bringing the total raised to N$19 000.
Jamilla Jacobs of Namsov Community Trust, says: “It is always amazing to find talented Namibian youth giving back to the communities. Our company is very passionate about uplifting and improving the lives of Namibian people through our projects and bursary programmes.”
The money raised was used as follows: N$7 000 was used to buy blankets; N$7 500 for food and toiletries and the remaining N$4 500 was used to buy school uniforms and socks for the children. The handover took place on Friday.
Heeding the advice of Namibia’s First Lady, Monica Geingos, who says: “Each one of us has a responsibility to remove someone out of poverty,” the group set about helping the less fortunate.
The chosen orphanage was Help Me Children’s Home, an initiative of Lydia Kooper, who runs it by herself. The charity currently hosts 24 children, 14 girls and 10 boys.
“After a bit of research, we found that a lot of charities outside Windhoek do not have the same access to funds and support as those based in the capital. We chose an orphanage outside of Windhoek in order to decentralise the benefits,” says Ashipala.
“We raised more money than we initially expected. There are 21 blankets left over that we intend to donate to another charity home in Okahandja at the end of the coming week,” adds Chituti.
“Now with this project having come to an end, we’re currently looking at other ways we can use our skills to give back to the community in the near future. The Three Lenses-One Focus isn’t a once off project, but will in the future target other social sectors that may need assistance,” Ashipala concluded.