Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO) aims to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS in Namibia by promoting discussion and understanding of sexual health and other social issues among young people. To achieve this, we have developed four major components to our work.

• * Working with young people: We engage young people in creative arts work that promotes the discussion and understanding of sexual health and other social issues. This entails:

• - Setting up and supporting AIDS Awareness Clubs for young  people in schools and Youth Groups for out-of-school youth.

• - Publishing the highly popular national magazine, “OYO, Young, Latest and Cool”.

• - Organising regional tours of OYO youth group productions and a national tour every September.

• * Special projects: We run national and international projects emphasise the creative arts, youth participation, gender equality, human rights and issues surrounding HIV and AIDS. These have included films, books, exhibitions, theatre productions and cultural exchanges.

• * Training teachers on HIV transmission, prevention, testing and treatment: We work with teachers and school managers and publish teacher-training manuals to ensure the highest standards of HIV and AIDS education in schools.
  
  * Researching sexuality and culturo-sexual practices: We conduct anthropological research with a view to developing appropriate tools for communities to respond to HIV and AIDS.

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History of OYO

In 2001 a group of teachers put forward a request to the Kunene Regional Council asking for help in finding new and engaging ways to convey information about HIV and AIDS to young people. The widespread feeling was that conventional teaching methods were making little impact on learners and that a more creative response was needed. The council responded by setting up a programme called Ombetja Yehinga as part of the Regional HIV and AIDS Co-ordinating Committee (RACOC).

One of Ombetja Yehinga’s first projects was a writing competition for young people in Kunene. As entries poured in, it became apparent that young people were finally taking up the message about HIV and AIDS and showing a genuine interest in the arts. The winning entries were adapted for the screen and made into a collection of five short films around the subject of HIV and AIDS, entitled Love Can Cry. Not wanting to lose momentum, OYO decided that it should begin encouraging learners to use their creative writing to communicate rather than compete with each other, and the OYO magazine was born.

In 2003 the Ombetja Yehinga project became an independent welfare organisation (WO199) under Namibian law.  In this new phase it has gone from strength to strength and has extended its work to the Khomas and Erongo regions.