Johanna Oosterveld Fund for Southern Africa

 The Johanna Oosterveld Fund was created in 1995 as a tribute to an exceptional woman who contributed greatly to the community health movement. Since its creation, the Fund has provided support to community clinics in Southern Africa, a part of the world with which Johanna had a special connection through her volunteer work with Oxfam.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE JOHANNA OOSTERVELD FUND.

Johanna helped change how people live in Halifax today. The work she did, with housing and social justice, union organizing and health care, helped those who didn't have the confidence or the opportunity to speak for themselves. Johanna listened, encouraged, and celebrated people for independent thought. She was a woman with a keen intellect and the courage to act on her beliefs.

Her driving motivation was making the world better for children. Johanna spent ten years as Director of the Halifax's North End Community Clinic. She took a lead role in developing community health clinics in Nova Scotia and was active in restructuring the health care system.

Chair of the Maritimes Regional Board for Oxfam, and later on the National Executive and chair of the National Program Committee, she went to Namibia for Oxfam three times - as a monitor in Namibia's first election after independence in 1990 and later as part of a program development and evaluation group working with an extensive program in the Okavango region of the country.

Oxfam Canada's Johanna Oosterveld Fund supports projects that combine her interests in health, empowerment and Southern Africa. She believed that each person could contribute in a meaningful way to society, and the fund gives more people a chance to make their contributions.

People listened when Johanna spoke. She was rigorous in gathering the facts around an issue. She could analyze, from grass roots to political agendas. When she talked, people understood. Johanna died in 1994, at 51.

Who is the Fund supporting:
The Matabeleland AIDS Council (MAC) and the Musasa Project have formed a unique and exciting partnership in Zimbabwe to combat HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. The Johanna Oosterveld Fund is supporting these two partners in their joint efforts to change beliefs and behaviour that put women and girls at risk.

Links to Canada:
Supporting the work of MAC and the Musasa Project is especially fitting because these two organizations are linked with the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador. These organizations exchange and promote best practices in prevention and outreach. As part of this linkage, a representative from the Musasa Project visited Canada in December 2006 and activists from St. John's traveled to Bulawayo in March 2007.