Chinese host medical care day for SOS
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Monday March 2, 2015 17:10
The medical team tested the children and their caretakers for different ailments in eyes, ears, height, weight, teeth and other diseases. According to the National Director for SOS children village Botswana, Motshwari Kitso, the Chinese came up with a commendable initiative, which the village needed the most.
“This is a very happy day for us as health is a very important component for every child’s growth. We want to see our children healthy. Our children come from different social and health background so this initiative will help us identify sickness before it is too late,” he said.
Kitso said they had built good relationship with China for 10 years now. He expressed his gratitude towards the Chinese people saying that they had played an important role in their lives.
He indicated that most of the Chinese individuals in the country had adopted an individual child whom they take care of by ensuring that the child has food, clothes, good education and so forth. He applauded CACB saying that it had contributed tremendously to the lives of SOS children.
He added that the association had also paid a whooping P100, 000 for the drilling of a borehole at Francistown. He appealed to local professionals and others to take their skills to good use by lending a helping hand to the children.
“Many people think that to give our children support they have to pop out some money, but money is not the only thing they can give those children. Support comes in many ways. You can give children support by dedicating your time and sharing career advises or cooking for them,” he said.
According to CACB Chairperson, Miles Nan, they have entered into an agreement with the medical team and SOS to do regular check ups for at least twice a year.
“We decided to address children’s health as they are the future of our country. Health is very important for them. When there is no health, there is no future,” he said.
He added that the team intended to take their services to rural areas, as there is shortage of medical facilities and experts.
Furthermore, he added that they felt they were Batswana and Botswana being their home, the Chinese people in the country were willing to develop and support Botswana attain its 2016 vision goals.
“We didn’t come here because we were thinking of making money, but we wanted to create jobs for Batswana and help develop this country. However, this is not possible because of Immigration and Labour policies because nowadays they are very strict on immigrants,” he said.
He pointed out that was not good for the development of the country as for it to grow it needed foreign investment which also curb unemployment in the country. He urged the government to look into some of the country’s policies so that other countries can help the country move forward. While he acknowledged the bad apples, Miles advised that targeting those should be balanced with Botswana’s development goals.