well what i did was exactly as posted above.
from the applcation management area, add these 2 repositoryies.

Repository: http://maemo-hackers.org/apt
Distribution: mistral
Component: main

Repository: http://repository.maemo.org
Distribution: mistral
Component: non-free

and than when you go to the application menu again after an update you will be able to see the list if items that can be installed and Gaim is one of them, it worked for me.