By Philippe Talavera | Director
As you know, the Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO) is a Namibian NGO that uses Arts to create social awareness. The last few months have been very challenging for us. While we never had direct funding from USAID, two of the grants were with Institutions/ Foundations that receive USAID money. That made us a sub-sub recipient. And with one of the first executive orders signed by Trump, those grants came to a standstill overnight, and then got cancelled. They represented 60% of our budget. This did put us in an extremely difficult situation.
We had to take several drastic measures, including selling a car – while we already have a shortage of transport -, reducing the number of working days for the staff, etc. We also launched a crowdfunding campaign and we would like to thank each and every one of you who answered our call: thanks to your generous support, we haven’t closed yet. It has been difficult, but we have kept on working.
I would like to extend a special thanks to Horizon Trust and its members. They have been incredibly supportive, and it is largely thanks to their generosity that we have been able to stay afloat this far. We would have had to close down without their support.
Thanks to Horizon Trust, we reach 5,955 people during the tour of the youth group, 1,221 people during the 3rd ||Kharas Youth Performing Arts Festival and 10,323 people when touring the dance troupe in Windhoek, Okahandja, Rehoboth and Gobabis. Our counsellor was present and we could make a difference in the lives of many young people.
We are also seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Our project submitted to the Embassy of Finland has been approved, with most activities scheduled for 2026, and we are hopeful for two other projects to start in January 2026.
In August, we had a wonderful performance of ‘a little prince in Namibia’, thanks to STAFE (French Consulate in South Africa). The performance saw over 60 people on stage, including more than 35 teenagers. We also continued implementing our project with Mercury Phoenix Trust. We are also doing as many short consultancies as possible, to try and make month end meet. The months September to December are still looking very sketchy – but we try our best to hold onto it as we have the feeling next year will be better – and we will be able to resume activities in schools to make a difference in the lives of many young people.
I would like once again to give a special word of thanks to the OYO staff. Throughout this difficult period, despite cuts in salaries, they all remained committed to the work we do. We have an amazing team, and I wish donors could see their commitment. They don’t deserve any of what happened this year.
If you receive this report, it is because you have supported us and we truly thank you. We can’t ask you to contribute to our work again, but we would like to ask you to please put in a good word for us with friends and families. If anybody could still support our crowdfunding efforts, we would dearly appreciate.
Our link are still: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/using-arts-educate-4000-namibian-teenagers-on-hiv
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-oyo-buy-a-new-car
If you have any friends who may be able to support us, please do share the link. We greatly appreciate all the support we can get, no matter how big or small.
With many thanks
The OYO team
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