Lattimore visits Mariri Speech Audiology Centre
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday July 31, 2014 13:23
Instead of pledging money like many music giants do, Lattimore decided to dedicate his time to the children. During his visit at the centre Lattimore, who was accompanied by his band, mingled and sung with the children.
During an interview with Showbiz, the singer and songwriter pointed out that love is the remedy to every problem and sickness. The Grammy and Stellar Award nominated recording vocalist, and father expressed his love for children.
He has been involved in a couple of voluntary work and donated to a few institutions such as Autism Speaks, which is a condition that affects many children.
He also said that his visit to Botswana has been wonderful as Batswana are a very welcoming and warm people.
“I love children and I feel honoured to see them smiling,” he said, adding that he would like to come back to the Botswana in the near future as he was warmly received by the people.
“They made my stay here exciting and I was happy with the turn up and the audience during the Friday concert,” he added.
The owner of the Centre, Kutlwelo Mariri, said that she felt honoured that Lattimore had taken the time off his busy schedule to mingle and sing with the children. She said that the children need support and love from other people. However, she pointed out that the school had financial crisis and urged the public and cooperate entities to pledge money towards the centre to keep it running. The school is still in great financial need that Mariri was afraid that lack of funds would lead to its closure.
Mariri said that even though she ploughed her own money into the centre to help children, she realised speech delay is a big problem in the country.
“There are many centres like this in South Africa and I strongly believe that if we would get financial assistance and other donations such as equipment, we would be able to help many children,” she said.
Mariri explained they had decided to pilot the centre for two years to see if it would suit Botswana culture when they opened in 2012.
“In those two years, we saw the children improving significantly and realised that the more we worked harder, the better the outcome. For quality results, the number has to be small. We accepted 24 children so that we could give them intensive therapy,” she said.
However, limiting the number affects payment and she had to increase the fees. Mariri said parents agreed to the increased fees because they realised the challenges faced by the centre.
“What humbled me is that when we approached them after realising we would have to close down, they pleaded with us not to. They even volunteered to fund-raise,” she said.
She added that Botswana needs more speech audiologists to save those who have problems with talking. She said many children are affected by speech delay in the country and their speech progress cannot get better if they are not given the necessary assistance or therapy.
Speech delay occurs when a child’s language skills are developing in the right sequence but at a slower rate than his or her peers. Mariri said that for the children to get the needed therapy parents have to pay the school fees amounting to P12,553 per term.
The hefty school fees covers the utensils and books used to teach the children, which are expensive.
The centre in conjunction with OHIO University from United States of America (USA) will be hosting a fundraising tea party at Blue Tree Golf Club in Gaborone on August 2, 2014 from 3:00 to 4:30 pm. The entrance fee is P250 per person.