Basarwa hostels are a children's nightmare

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Monday July 5, 2010 00:00

The Khwedom Council says rampant escapes from the RADs hostels by Basarwa children are caused by poor planning and failure by the powers that be to understand and appreciate Basarwa culture, among others.

Speaking in an interview on Friday, the founding Executive Director of Khwedom Council, Keikabile Mogodu, said the much publicised escapes of Basarwa children from the hostels is caused by a number of factors which can be put straight if stakeholders work together with his newly established that represents all Basarwa in the country.

Mogodu says the way the issue has been reported in the media paints Basarwa children as people who do not care about education when the opposite is true.

Mogodu says government, as the provider of the RAD hostels, would do well to investigate the issue not relying on shallow explanations given by the school administrations.

The Khwedom council boss says some of the factors resulting in the escape of Basarwa children at the RADS hostels include lack of recreational facilities, adding that Basarwa children also need such recreation such as chess, table tennis, school libraries, football, tennis courts to make life more exciting.

Mogodu says they have also observed that the RAD Hostels, which he says were done without consulting Basarwa, accommodate both boys and girls, without taking into consideration that a number of big boys could in the long run develop tendencies that cause some to run away from the hostels.

He says there are many cases where the children engage in sexual activities leading to pregnancies and others fleeing the hostels because they do not want to be pressured into sexual activities.

The executive director says when all these bad activities happen at the hostels, there are no adult guides keeping an eye on the situation, adding that the guide usually comes to work during the day and knock off, leaving the kids to do as they wish.

Mogodu says they have also observed that a guide can go on leave leaving the children without any adult person to run to, adding that the Khwedom Council would like to suggest that there should be two or more guardians based full time at the RADS hostels.

'We have also observed that the RADS hostels do not have social welfare officers, or professional counselors where the children can go to seek professional help when they require one.

Basarwa children also need this professional services,' says Mogodu.

The executive director also said that it is very important that people who are employed to take care of Basarwa children at these RADS hostels are made to undergo cultural orientation about the social life of Basarwa so they can be able to appreciate Sesarwa.

He says in most cases Basarwa children at these RADS hostels are treated as lesser people by the very same adults the children are supposed to look up to for assistance.

'If a child is bullied at the hostels, and seeks help from the guide, and then the same guide dismisses the child as just a Mosarwa, it does not help the child much; they could escape the RADS hostels.  Our children are not getting the right treatment from the guides at the RADs hostels,' Mogodu added.