Pupils receive gifts on Mandela Day
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday August 8, 2017 15:36
The High Commission was liaising with the Botswana Alumni Chapter for the University of Cape Town (BACUCT), Nayang Association, MTN, and Brown Stone Foundation. The organisations joined forces towards the upliftment in assisting school by pledging school shoes and sanitary pads to the students in the spirit of the global icon, Nelson Mandela in the “Nelson Mandela 67 Minutes” event.
For her part, a representative from Brown Stones Foundation, Tebatso Lekalake said having being brought up in Gaborone Central she took it upon herself to look for a school, which they could help with donations. She said that was when she approached Notwane Primary School head in January to enquire how the foundation could assist the school.
“I was told that some children come to school with either big or small shoes. The other problem we identified was that there were some girls who missed school on monthly basis because they do not have money to buy sanitary pads. As the foundation, we saw it fit to address those issues as our objective is to ensure that our children’s lives are characterised by dignity,” she said.
Lekalake added that they approached the mentioned stakeholders who decided to pledge those gifts and give them to Notwane Primary pupils as part of Nelson Mandela 67 Minutes in commemoration of Madiba.
According to the South African deputy high commissioner, Bulelwa Kiva, for 67 years, Mandela devoted his life to serving humanity as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of morality and consciousness, an international negotiator and peacemaker and also the first elected president of a free South Africa.
She explained that in November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 18 as the Nelson Mandela International Day in recognition of the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.
Kiva added that Mandela’s values and his dedication to the service of humanity, in the area of conflict resolution, the promotion and protection of human rights, reconciliation, race relations, gender equality and the rights of children and other vulnerable groups was recognized.
“Individuals around the world every year volunteer in marking Nelson Mandela International Day by trying to make a difference in their communities. Everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better and Mandela Day is an occasion for everyone to take action and inspire change,” she said.
Notwane school head, Kamogelo Sama expressed her gratitude towards those organisations good gesture.
She urged them to continue assisting the school as it had many needs such as building classes for reception pupils. She said her school currently had one reception classroom, which could not cater for the high demand in her ward.