Over P 918,000 Cash Given Away In The Sos Change My Life SMS Game

Staff Writer | Monday February 22, 2016 15:18

Orange Botswana’s Innovations and Value Added Services Lead Kebaneetse Force said this is an  SMS game which rewards customers for donating money to charity.

“Each time the customer plays the SMS game, they donate P2 to charity and stand a chance to win airtime, cash or a car,” he says. So far, Orange has given away over P918, 000 in cash, a brand new Audi A4 and over P98,000 worth of airtime to various winners. The winners vary with some having played the game over a longer period of time whilst others played once or twice and got lucky.

In addition to changing the lives of regular Batswana, the SMS game is greatly aimed at raising funds and changing the lives of the children at SOS Children’s Village Botswana.The SOS Children’s Villages Association of Botswana was founded in 1980 against the backdrop of a rapidly increasing number of AIDS orphans. Since 2008, SOS Children’s Village has been operating SOS Family Strengthening Programmes in order to help families to protect and care for their children. Strengthening family ties and enabling children who are at risk of losing parental care to grow up in a caring family environment has been one of our main goals. According to Force, Orange Botswana selected SOS as the beneficiaries of the SMS game following a plea for help from the NGO.

“They came to us to ask for donations because their usual donors from the western world reduced their budgets since the economic downturn of 2008-2009. We support and believe in their course as an organisation hence our decision to support them in this manner,” he says. SOS Children’s Villages is currently operating in three locations in Botswana and these are Gaborone, Francistown and Serowe. Here, children are provided with day care, education and medical assistance. Children whose families cannot take care of them can find a loving home in one of the SOS families.

In addition to the SOS change my life SMS game, Orange Botswana has supported other charitable organisations such as Lady Khama Charitable Trust which received 10% of proceeds from another SMS competition named Pompa Lebotha.