08 Jul 2014

The North East District youth empowerment project is playing a major role in helping the youth shun criminal activities and other societal ills.

Speaking during the second day of a two-day ball sports competitions held in Butale, the vice coordinator of the project, Esther Peo said since its inception in 2008, the project contributed to lowering the high crime rates in the district.

She said they used various means to reach out to the youth, citing amongst them the weekend netball and football games, adding that their aim was to ensure that the youth were meaningfully engaged.

She explained that the games had brought together teams from the MOSEBUTSHE Sub-region, which comprises Mowana, Senyawe, Butale and Tshesebe as well as MAKGONATSOTLHE Sub-region which covers Mabudzane, Jackalas 2, Tsamaya, Siviya, and Themashanga.

Peo explained that some of the stakeholders in the project included the North East District tribal administration, government departments such as Tshesebe Police Station, North East District Health Management Team (DHMT), Department of Youth, Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and Mosojane’s Bannatota Youth.

She said they chose to reach out to the youth through the tournament because it had become clear that kgotla meetings were not effective for the dissemination of information targeting the youth.

Furthermore, she said a lot of young people did not attend kgotla meetings, hence their decision to look for more appropriate ways of reaching out to them. 

She stated that the aim of the project was to help mould the youth into responsible Batswana who can help build the nation.

Kgosi Grace Butale of Butale also indicated that the behaviour of the youth in her village was the main cause for concern. She said alcohol abuse was rife in the village and that something needed to be done to address the situation.

She said it was important for services such as counselling to be availed to the youth to help them know about the consequences of their wayward behaviour.

One of the participants of the games, Gadzani Salang of Mowana Select Football team stated that youth were reluctant to engage in youth empowerment schemes and prefer to spend most of their time at bars drinking alcohol.

He said he believed that the project would change the mindset of most youth in the district and also help to eradicate poverty.

For her part, the project secretary, Rachel Maguta explained that they would also donate nine tuckshops to beneficiaries in the participating villages in an effort to help eradicate poverty amongst the youth.

She added that they also intend to construct a multi-purpose hall in Tsamaya by next year, which would house deserving youth projects. 

She indicated that they were still looking for sponsors to help in constructing the hall, calling out to those interested in lending a helping hand.

Mowana Select Netball team emerged victorious at the end of the tournament, walloping tribal administration by 25 goals to 22.

In the next round of the competitions, both winners will face teams from Tshesebe’s Thamani Junior Secondary School. ENDS