Bomme Ba Thapelo uplifts their society

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Friday March 12, 2010 00:00

 

Loosely translated, 'Bomme Ba Thapelo' means 'Women of Prayer' and the group is made up of women from various churches within the village.

The churches are St Paul Faith Mission, The Hermon Church, St Acts, United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA), African-born Full Gospel, Jehova Moipatedi and St Charles Lwanga Mission (Roman Catholic).

Kopano Bapileng, a tall and sturdy woman whose energetic dancing and powerful voice shows how much she is cut out to be a leader, leads the women. In her late 40s, Bapileng is a grandmother whose children have fled the nest to start their own families. She shares a home with her husband.

As the chairperson Bapileng, a teacher at Borolong Primary School, is assisted by an elderly Onalenna Ngele, who is vice chairperson.

Keaitse Molapisi is Secretary General while Gadzani Philemon is Vice Secretary General.

Among the membership of the charitable organization is Anastasia Sebina who is a headwoman for the Sebina ward in Borolong. The women are so fiercely feminist they reject every effort by males in the village to sign up for membership.At a handover ceremony of a house the women constructed for a destitute in the village last Saturday, Kgosi Israel Molema and Councillor Jabulani Vuke tried in vain to be made members but they were swiftly rebuffed.

Molema who was impressed by the women's ingenuity in helping the poor in their society, said it was not his first time to interact with these women as he has also done so at a time when they were handing out gifts to children in the village. 'I am so impressed with you and I wish all Barolong (residents of Borolong) would be present to witness what you are doing first hand.

It is just that I wish you would co-opt some of us into your organization so that we can help where we can,' said Molema.Vuke equally expressed his admiration for the women expressing hope that the organization would grow and spread throughout the country.

'As for kgosi (Molema) and myself, we are going to have to gate-crash your organization as ex-officio members as we would like to help as much as possible,' said Vuke.

But in her response Bapileng rejected this request and said they could not allow men into their organization as theirs was a strictly female entity. 'Men can start their own organization, perhaps with the same objectives as ours. As we are now experienced in these matters, we would duly assist them.

We are a strictly women's organization on the same lines with Emang Basadi,' said Bapileng whose husband was also in the crowd that came to witness the house handover.

Bomme Ba Thapelo was started by three or four women, among them Bapileng who felt they had to make a contribution to the upliftment of their society. 'The woman who actually came up with the idea has relocated to Francistown. But we carried on with the organization.

'When we did mekolokotwane (church fundraising) at our respective churches, we realized that some of the money could be used to fund projects that could be of benefit to the downtrodden in our society.

'We wanted to be compliant with Vision 2016, especially the pillar of being compassionate and caring,' she said.She said they decided that everyone should put their shoulder to the wheel and the women responded positively to the clarion call. 'We premised our organization on the basis that for you to be able to exist, you need basics like food, clothing and a roof over your head,' she said. However for the past nine years Bomme Ba Thapelo was not registered with the Registrar of Society, something they only did last year.

Consequently, they are starting 2010 as a registered society and are hopeful they will grow from strength to strength. 'We are really serious about putting Borolong on the world map.  In future, we would not only be assisting the poor in Borolong, but other parts of the country. We want to be public enemy number one to poverty and depravity. 'Once we have done that we would be able to sleep well instead of spending sleepless nights wondering about other people who would not be privileged with a roof over their shoulders like us and everyone else,' said Bapileng.

'Bomme Ba Thapelo' enjoys the patronage of Joy Phumaphi who always chips in to assist in connecting the women to the corporate world. She was involved in the construction of the house that was handed over to Nametso 'Fan' Dambe last Saturday.

Phumaphi who has worked for the World Bank is a philanthropist who is well known for her endeavours to stop human suffering brought about by poverty, disease, war and natural disasters.