Kenewendo Empowers The Girl
Oleosi Kgosi | Monday June 19, 2017 16:42
There were 16 girls attending hence representing and signifying the 16 in June 16. The girls were form 5 students from Gaborone Senior Secondary School as well as 3 representatives from the Sky Girls movement.
The theme of this interaction was ‘My Africa, My Role’, which aims to concentrate on the roles that individuals play in terms of social and economic development. “I have complete faith in the young people that are here because they are passionate, self-driven, self-inspired and I have no doubt that they will be sharing what they got from this activity with others. They will create vision boards that will assist them to think differently, to think about the things they actually want for Africa and what is their role in ensuring that they get what they want for Africa,” Kenewendo said.
Lorato Modongo, a social psychologist, youth and gender activist asked the students what comes to their minds when they hear about Africa and they immediately pointed out the tragedies that take place on the continent such as corruption, civil wars and gender-based violence.
“The power to make Africa great is upon us, we have the potential to work hard, use our talents and support initiatives like women-empowerment that focus on making Africa great, ” she said.
“Ensuring a balanced and equal access to resources, advocating for women and changing people’s mindsets to positivity is crucial. Power is in the mindset therefore the internalised mindset that women are inferior and cannot do anything should completely vanish from people,” she said.
One of the students highlighted that indeed “If you educate a man you are educating an individual and if you educate a woman you educate a nation”.
Kagiso Madibana of Nayang Association, a social entrepreneur and author, advised the students to realise their potential and have courage and motivate themselves to move forward.
“Aspire to be great and be the person you want to be.”
Tshepang Seisa-Chilume of RLABS Botswana shared the history of June 16 with the students that the whites who were ruling in the Apartheid regime instructed that black students be taught in Afrikaans and the students protested against it.
Meanwhile, during the session the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development, Thapelo Olopeng made a surprise appearance where he advised the students to eliminate fear and conquer it by avoiding the ‘if’ word, which is a genesis of fear. “The initiative is inspirational because the students love and look up to her as a mentor, also they were given the opportunity to meet and interact with the honourable members of parliament.
It’s a good gesture that we are not used to and I believe it will help the students grow their talents and aim for the best without fear.
They also talked about transformational leadership which I trust that these students will be able to lead other students at school as well as spread what they learnt from this event” said Tshepiso Basele, a teacher at Gaborone Senior Secondary School.
With the continued support she is getting from Parliament, AT&T Monnakgotla as well as Naledi Moepeng who is volunteering, Kenewendo plans to take this initiative to other schools in different parts of the country.