Namutoni (Namibia)

Maria Shikuambi said attending Jamboree I was a dream come true. And after the Jamboree she couldn’t keep silent. Her heart was fired by the theme: ‘Whom shall I send?’ She felt challenged to break the silence and further the aim of Sister 2 Sister to design a new space for women.
 
In Namibia 10 women gathered around a meal sharing Jamboree experiences. Suddenly that space became sacred, women opened their hearts and shared personal testimonies. They decided to speak. On the 20th of November, 4 of these 10 women spoke in Parliament about discrimination against women living with HIV/aids. The Sister 2 Sister network started with fire! As a result of speaking to their leaders, the group was given assitance by the government to start a clinic.

3 Sister 2 Sister volunteers are now training 27 women in HIV prevention with a view to these women educating their respective communities. They have a target to reach 100 women in the next year. In order to do this, the 3 trainers must walk from village to village, as there is no vehicular transport of any kind in the area. Sometimes they must walk for a whole day to reach the more remote villages!

Nutrition

This place is situated on a big lake in Namibia that supplies fish to various places. Every day people are dying in the fishing camp, especially women who come from the towns to sell sex for fish. Because of the stigma, women cannot go back to the city and they decide to die alone in the camp. Sister 2 Sister volunteers decided to start a food garden for these women so that they can have “diamond food”. They believe that good heath comes from a farm not the a pharmacy.