Constancio Hishiyukifa Mwandingi, the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Solidarity Community Care Organisation

Who is Constancio Hishiyukifa Mwandingi, the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Solidarity Community Care Organisation?

I thought it is important to introduce myself to members, friends and supporters of Solidarity Community Care Organisation. This is important because Solidarity Community Care Organisation solicits support and funding from members and the public. They need to know who is behind the foundation and leadership of the organisation so that we build mutual trust and support.

Our members and the public need to have confidence and trust in me, as the Founder and Executive Chairperson of the organisation, so that they can support the organisation without reservations or suspicion. If there is no mutual trust and confidence, there is no business.

In 2004, I was working at Katutura State Hospital, as a Chief Control Officer, when in October that year I found out that I was HIV-positive. Because at that time I had inadequate knowledge about HIV, I thought it was a burden to continue with my job at the hospital. So, I decided to resign and look for a job that will give me an opportunity to take action or to contribute directly to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I applied to a community-based organisation called TKMOAMS in Oshakati where I worked as a General Manager from 1st February 2005 to 24 March 2006 when I was treacherously fired. Yes, fired for whatever reason, I do not know up to now. I wish I knew. But, that is history now.

On 24 March 2006, the same day I was fired from my job as General Manager of TKMOAMS, I said to a trusted friend “I am going to start my own organisation that will genuinely represent the interests of HIV-positive people”. That is exactly what I did, and the rest is history.

What I did, after returning to Windhoek where my family resides, I placed an advertisement on the classified pages of The Namibian newspaper, inviting people to join the organisation and providing my mobile number.

The response was immediate and overwhelming. People started calling from all over Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Khomas and Oshana regions, as these were the regions in which I chose to establish the organisation and operate from.

We met for the first time, as a small group, in Katutura Community Hall in Windhoek in November 2007. At that meeting, I was formally elected as the Executive Chairperson of the organisation while Mirjam Makumbi (née Hangula) and Veronica Haimbodi were elected as Vice-Chairperson and National Secretary respectively.

I spent nearly the whole 2006 and up to June 2009 (about three and half years) working full-time for Solidarity Community Care Organisation.

During that time, starting from 2007, the organisation started getting funding and training the first batch of its community home-based care providers in Oshikoto, Khomas, Ohangwena and Oshana regions of Namibia. The first group was trained at Omutsegonime community in Oshikoto Region, funded by UNAIDS Namibia, as the first donor of the organisation.

After that, Solidarity Community Care Organisation started growing rapidly and we succeeded in raising funding, especially in 2008 and 2009, when the organisation was funded by, among others, Jet Community Awards, US Embassy in Namibia and German Embassy in Namibia, which led to raising about half a million Namibia Dollars and the implementation of various projects, including the construction of a community health and development centre at Etope laShilongo community in Ohangwena region and a hammer mill project at King Kauluma community in Oshikoto region.

This was possible because I dedicated myself full-time to the management and implementation of the activities of the organisation, especially fundraising.

In 2009, I got a job and returned to the Ministry of Defence where I started working in 1990. My return to a full-time job in the Ministry of Defence affected the organisation’s functioning a little bit, as I was trying to encourage other members who were not working full time to lead the organisation. As a result, the organisation remained a bit dormant between 2012 and 2014, except in 2010 when we got a big funding from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives for electricity and water connection to the community health and development centre of the organisation.

By 2014 when I realised that the organisation was going down, I decided to put more time in organisation activities on my own time, especially after hours and during weekends.

These efforts have since paid off, and as a result, the organisation started to revive itself.

By 2016, the organisation has been reactivated fully and as we are talking now it has over 200 members in Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Khomas, Oshana and Omusati regions of Namibia. In addition, more members are joining the organisation on a regular basis.

We are also interacting more and better with the stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Namibia Network of Aids Service Organisations (NANASO), the Regional AIDS Coordinating Committees (RACOCs) and others.

Our service provision in the community has also picked up significantly since 2015 with the starting of a Community Fruit and Vegetables Garden Project at King Kauluma community in Oshikoto region, funded by Sanlam Namibia.

There is also a noticeable increase in the number of clients in the community. In other words, Solidarity Community Care Organisation now has enough members to provide community home-based care and community development through the implementation of community projects. What the organisation needs is financial, material and technical support to grow and strengthen its capability for better community service delivery.

In terms of qualifications, I have a Master's Degree in Hospital Management from the University of Leeds, UK, specialising in health planning and budgeting and a National Diploma in Public Administration from the former Polytechnic of Namibia (now Namibia University of Science and Technology-NUST), majoring in Public Administration, English and Accounting.

I currently work full-time as an Army Colonel in the Ministry of Defence, Namibia, and work on my own time for Solidarity Community Care Organisation, an organisation that I started and will make sure it remains active as far as I am alive.

In short, that is Solidarity Community Care Organisation and me. I hope this will help you when you donate your hard-earned money to Solidarity community Care Organisation to have confidence that the organisation is founded and led by a person with an impeccable and stainless record.

I am in this because HIV has put me in this since 2004, more than 12 years ago, and I will be here to fight back without fear or favour until an AIDS-free generation achieved. Just support Solidarity Community Care Organisation with confidence to help it become a vibrant community-based organisation and to be a force to be reckoned with in the provision community home-based care and community development in Namibia.