Update on Anita Isaacs, partner to the Classes of 2006 & 2017

Anita in her mahongu field this spring.

We have great news about Anita Isaacs, partner of the Class of 2006 and a two time Periclean-in-Residence. After four years of hard study, internships and a senior project based near her home in Oshakati, on April 14th she received her Batchelor of Social Work from the University of Namibia. She is now in a position to accept a job through the Ministry of Youth working with HIV positive children in the north. She will also serve as an unofficial consultant to Namibia’s First Lady on issues related to HIV/AIDS.

She has served as the regional director of Lironga Eparu, an organization that helps people “live positively” with their HIV status.

During her visits to Elon Anita met with and educated the Periclean Scholars as a group, as well as on an individual basis. She had several campus-wide events in which she was a catalyst for conversation and education among Elon University students. Anita had several radio interviews and public speeches on campus, in an attempt to educate and raise awareness among the Elon community. Finally, interviews and filming were conducted with Anita to prepare for a final documentary all about Anita and her story.

Anita’s presence changed lives of the members of Elon’s campus and surrounding community, while experiencing changes to her own life. She took her message and shared her story outside of her country, and beyond her continent. She developed the Periclean Scholars’ understanding of AIDS in Namibia by providing first hand information from a woman who fights the stigma associated with AIDS in Namibia on a daily basis. Anita’s message affected the Periclean Scholars’ projects and the education shared with others throughout the world and within the United States.

In 2014, Anita posted the following,

“I hope you are doing great in the new year 2014. I always feel proud of being a part of you guys. It has been a wonderful 11years together. Every second I think of you I remember on how I met the Class of 2006. By then I was just another AIDS patient waiting to be added to the Namibian AIDS death statistics. Today I am still living to the fullest. My dream of becoming a grandmother became true, today I am a grandmother of three wonderful grandchildren. To be honest the Class of 2006 saved my life, they put life into my days, not only days into my life. They taught me how to plan for my future. Back in 2003 if you are HIV positive you were regarded as a living dead, living amongst the living. But after my initial meeting with the group led by Dr. Tom Arcaro, it was a blessing for our support group. Today the group have change from being the people with AIDS to healthy people, back to work. We are proud parents, who have grown up children.

I never dreamt of going to University, but today I am in my third year [now a graduate!] at the University of Namibia. Thanks to your on-going moral, physical, and financial support. I am looking forward on meeting with Class of 2017. Continue doing the good and wonderful work you are showing to throughout the World. You need to know that what you are doing have a positive impact on the lives of millions of people Globally.”