Rentse Foundation promotes healthy living in Palapye
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday November 29, 2019 17:59
The NGO’s programme manager, Tsothe Maganu, told Mmegi that their vision was to continue with such initiatives annually to reach out to the less privileged individuals and their communities to enrich their lives holistically. The campaign would be held under the theme, ‘My Health, My Priority’.
“We planned to provide the less privileged elderly and children with decent homes, to inspire hope and contribute to their health and well-being through health education and coming up with activities to promote primary health prevention through collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
The health and wellness campaign will be an opportunity for Palapye’s community to be screened for various conditions in order to determine individuals’ health status and act accordingly if need be,” he explained.
Maganu added that they intended to offer services not limited to health talks, blood glucose screening, blood pressure screening, eye screening, dental screening and aerobics.
He said they expected individuals from the entire community of Palapye and surrounding villages to attend this campaign.
He said they would be collaborating with different experts and practitioners from facilities like Toro Clinic in Palapye, OM Physiotherapy Clinic, Eyelight Optometrists and are still hoping to collaborate with more stakeholders and sponsors from both the local privately-owned health facilities and the Palapye Department of Health Management Team.
“In collaboration with Eyelight Optometrists, we expect to donate over 100 reading glasses to be prescribed to the old and individuals who have visual impairments and cannot afford to buy spectacles.
We are working with different community leaders to identify such individuals.
We, therefore, urge Palapye communities and surrounding villages to take advantage of services free for offered by different health experts during this campaign day,” he said.
The Rentse Foundation was founded by Rentse Ugokwe (humanitarian award winner).
The idea of the foundation came about when she survived harsh conditions after losing her father at the age of eight.
This Non-Governmental Organisation and Non-Profit Organisation has been in operation since 2011 and was successfully registered with the secretary of state in California, USA where it has been operational.
The Rentse Foundation was then registered and launched in Gaborone on March 1, 2014.
The aim of the foundation is to build homes for the less privileged elderly people and children who are victims of HIV/AIDS, intends to eliminate the word orphan and give hope.
The main mission of this organisation is to provide the elderly members of society with decent homes since they are forgotten, with most of them providing basic necessities to orphans that are in need of housing.
The foundation has so far built houses in Palapye, Mogapinyana, Otse-Lephephe and intends to continue with its mission in different areas of Botswana.
The Rentse Foundation has also embarked on a charitable initiative through Miss Charity 2018-2019 pageant, which was held at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) on October 5, 2018. The main mandate of the pageant was not only to raise funds for the underprivileged, but to also encourage people to give back to the community in order to build a healthy society.
The funds from the pageant were used to build a house for an elder in Otse-Lephephe.
Miss Charity pageant also empowered the youth and women to care for the community through the provisions of school uniforms and campaigns for children who come from needy families at Kotolaname Primary School in Kotolaname located 30km west of Molepolole in Kweneng.