By Michael Liswaniso OPUWO After operating for 15 years without an office in Opuwo – the hub of the Kunene Region – the Red Cross finally inaugurated its office on Tuesday. The new office complex is located in the busy avenue of Mbumbiazo Muharukua. Unveiling a plaque at the new office complex, which is situated in the busy avenue of Mbumbiazo Muharukua, was Belgium’s Red Cross Secretary-General, Professor Philippe Vandekerckhove, who was afforded the honour because of his office’s financial contribution towards the construction of the project. Prior to the official inauguration, cultural performances by the Katutura and Okondwane Cultural Groups embellished the occasion with their beautiful dances that delighted everybody, while Opuwo’s famous Ondjongo Cultural Group afterwards performed until late. The volunteer youth drama group of the Red Cross Society in the region performed a ten-minute sensational HIV/AIDS drama, entertaining those in attendance. Welcoming the guests and delivering the introductory remarks was Kunene Regional Red Cross Board chairperson, Rosina Tjizu, while the background information on the operations of the Red Cross in the region and some thankful remarks came from Namibia Red Cross Society’s Secretary-General, Razia Kauaria, and Belgium’s Red Cross Secretary-General, Professor Vandekerckhove. The keynote address was delivered by the Regional Governor, Dudu Murorua. He said, however, that most of the job activities of the Red Cross employees were done in the field. The new office complex, he said, was a step in the right direction because although they were mostly out in the field, some of the vital activities needed to be carried out in the offices. “The Red Cross in the region started on a very low profile, but the work was delivered, the Regional Governor said, so the new office complex is really a good development not only for the Red Cross and the inhabitants of the region, but for the entire country.” “The time when the Red Cross started operations in the region, I was an ordinary elephant guard way back then, and most of the time – actually on numerous occasions – we met in the field, which clearly indicated the determination and hard work of the Red Cross,” he said. The Governor noted that whenever people received something, they should not view it as ordinary luck and still beg for more. He said they should rather appreciate and move forward, and pointed out that God was for everyone and thus the fortune is normally equally and randomly distributed. “After receiving something, people should always plough back as a signal of moving forward,” he said. In thanking the Red Cross for the development, he underscored the need for good use to be made of the office complex, saying “I just hope this office will be put to good use so that the Red Cross employees and the inhabitants of the region may all benefit at the end of the day.” At the same occasion, both Governor Murorua and the Belgian Red Cross Secretary-General, Vandekerchove, were presented with gifts from the Namibia Red Cross Society in recognition of the roles they have played – and continue to play – in the region.