Men urged to develop spirit of volunteerism

Lindiwe Mozola | Tuesday June 13, 2017 16:38

This was raised by different speakers at SOS Children’s Village Day celebrations held here over the weekend. Delivering the keynote address, Kgosi Mokhutshwane Sekgoma said men need to play their role in societal issues, more especially in caring for the vulnerable such as children in SOS villages.

He said that as much as women are doing their part, which is evident from the number of women volunteering at SOS, men should as well do their part.

“It is very disturbing that naturally men are heads of households. There is no doubt that they can be perfect to care for the children here as much as our fellow women are doing only if we can open our hearts to these children who only need our sincere love to feel a sense of belonging,” he said.

He noted that the SOS children, like any other children out there, wish to grow in a home with both parents, but due to adversities beyond their control, they are forced to grow under adverse circumstances. The Kgosi also stated that it was shameful to be celebrating with the SOS children when the truth is that, as Batswana we should have extended love towards them.

He said they have been through a lot of adversities in life as some were dumped, rejected by their parents at birth while some were abused. “No child is born alone. There are relatives out there who should have shown love to these children in case of death by parents, just like we used to do years back.” 

He said in the past children were divided amongst relatives who loved them as their own, when their parents died, and were not abused as is the case nowadays. He added, “where are we going Batswana? Let us resuscitate the love shown by our forefathers that saw us uniting to build University of Botswana.

” He said one’s love and affection is all that is needed for the children.  Phalane Mookodi of Club 66, one of SOS Serowe’s partners, shared same sentiments with  Kgosi Sekgoma. He said SOS children, just like any other children yearn for fatherly love, therefore men ought to play their role. She said that normally, SOS Day is celebrated annually on June 23. 

However, they asked SOS to allow them to be part of it and celebrate it a week before Fathers’ Day as a way of appealing to men across the country to play a role in raising SOS children. “I am however disapointed that the number of men here is a not even a handful, a clear indication that they still lag behind in volunteerism work.  “As club 66 we are made of eight women and only two men.

We have made as pledge to donate toiletries worth P3,000 every three months to Serowe SOS. So far, we have donated toiletry worthy P15,000,” Mookodi said.