Local people take over PiN project

THE community of Keetmanshoop this week took ownership of a crafts project previously run and funded by the Czech organisation People in Need (PiN).

The PiN Wake Centre will now be called Karas Huisen Crafts.The main aim of the project, which started in 2004, is to provide people affected by HIV-AIDS with income-generating opportunities and a safe and supportive work and social environment. At the ceremony, PiN Head of Mission Hana Urbanov said PiN’s focus was to train local people, mainly women, to eventually run the project themselves.Urbanov said minimal funding by PiN would continue until the end of this year. She said PiN would still run HIV, PMTC and Sexual Minorities projects from the same building housing Karas Huisen Crafts.Crafts produced at the project are sold in the Czech Republic, and locally in Windhoek, Keetmanshoop and Swakopmund. One of the founder members of the project, Maria Goliath, who is also a member of the board of trustees, said the project had made great strides in becoming self-sustainable.luqman@namibian.com.na