HIV/AIDS training workshop for NAMCOL staff

Responding to the national fight against HIV/AIDS, the Namibia College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) launched an HIV/AIDS training workshop for its staff recently. As NAMCOL occupies a strategic position and the college influences many different sectors of society, it had to respond, according to the director of NAMCOL, Frances Mensah.The NAMCOL HIV/AIDS committee initiated the training workshop which focussed on awareness or effective ways of information dissemination, prevention or effective prevention means and methods, basic counselling skills, peer counselling, home-based care, living positively with the virus and confidentiality in HIV/AIDS. Mensah said that the workshop had not been about ‘business as usual’, but was about providing new solutions to old and existing challenges with regard to HIV/AIDS in the context of education and beyond.The training workshop was for NAMCOL staff (both full and part-time employees), to educate, inform and advise the staff on issues and matters related to HIV/AIDS. “Looking at the focus areas of this workshop, it equipped the participants with the knowledge and skills to deal with fundamental issues of the disease and to become trainers themselves in order to cascade the newly acquired skills and knowledge to other staff and learners” said Mensah.The workshop was funded by the Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building Facility (ISCBF) at the Ministry of Education under their focus of establishing HIV/AIDS activities in the education sector with funds provided by the European Commission and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). According to Mensah, an amount of N$124 200 was made available for the training workshop.Similar workshops were conducted concurrently in Oshakati, Rundu and Otjiwarongo.The International Committee of the Red Cross plays a significant role in the fight against HIV/AIDS globally by implementing programmes that provide prevention and training, health care and blood safety, food aid and other sustainable support for people affected by HIV/AIDS.Announcing the workshops, Mensah said, “The AIDS epidemic is our reality. It is our weakest place. Like a tree with a hollow, it is the wounded hollow in the side of humanity. But if we tackle it courageously, we will find the opportunity for our branches to lean on one another and for our weakest moment to become a new strength as a human community”.