BDP women substitute wood for paper
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday April 21, 2016 11:43
The project, which is the brainchild of BDP Women’s Wing entails the manufacturing of paper bricks to either replace or complement firewood as fuel for domestic purposes. The bricks are made of soaked and compressed waste paper which is acquired from local printing works at no charge. This paper brick project is done in Namibia and Swaziland.
The paper bricks will be produced at the BDP regions as a way of bringing the service closer to members who hail from poverty-stricken communities and provide an option for energy needed for cooking instead of chopping down trees and wasting valuable hours searching for firewood. Yesterday, the Women’s wing league president, Dorcas Makgato said their aim is to procure paper brick making machines, distribute them to various regions and train women on how to operate them. “The production of paper bricks is income-generating. We want to help the government to alleviate poverty especially that women are always the most hard hit by poverty. If taken to regions, this project could employ more women. It should be considered that this project is a non-partisan thing and is going to be sold to anyone even those who are not BDP members so that it can improve their lives. Again it will reduce felling of trees,” Makgato said.
She said they are talking to different shops so that they can display paper bricks where people can appreciate and buy them.
Makgato stressed that since the project is still being piloted, it is facing lots of problems but they are meeting with different business people to help them.
“Choppies has agreed that we should start displaying at their shops and we hope that they will sell them after some people have understood their importance. The price for the paper brick will be reasonable,” she said.
One of the representatives of the project, Gasethata Lesatle from Gaborone North Women’s wing said their main challenge is a place where they can operate from. “We do not have a place where we operate this business. The project was formed by 10 women and I am one of them. For now we are still housed by councillor Veronica Lesole. I believe that our leaders will help us to operate this business. The other challenge is that we want machines to speed up the project,” Lesatle said.
The assistant minister of presidential affairs and public administration, Phillip Makgalemele told the attendants that his ministry encourages women to form groups or register societies which could uplift their lives.
“We encourage women to take advantage of government programmes by forming groups and doing something that can help them to survive. My ministry is having a workshop, which is educating District Commissioners on what to do to alleviate poverty in villages. The ministry is forced to employ temporary social workers to do assessment of the projects on alleviating people’s lives,” Makgalemele said.