13 Nov 2014

The management of Chobe Safari Lodge and the maintenance team donated kitchen utensils to the Kachikau Special Care Unit on November 11.

Speaking at the event, the deputy school head, Mr Oteng Makole thanked the lodge for seeing the need to continue supporting the special care unit in the school.  She said special education grew from an initial awareness that some children, in order to achieve their potential, require intensity of education. 

Mr Makole noted the main challenge was that some parents have not accepted the conditions of their children and still think that they would be healed instead of helping them to become responsible adults who can make independent and informed choices. 

“This lack of acceptance of the situation or condition by some parents is not helping in any way to see these children grow to be who they are. So I urge parents to keep in mind that se tshwaraganelwa ke ntsa pedi ga se thata,” he said.

Mr Bahedile Kakoma, who is also living with disability, encouraged students to learn wood carving to make a living.  He urged the teachers to teach students artistic work such as drawing and painting so that they could identify their talents. 

For his part, the operational manager at Chobe Fish Eagle, Mr Duncan Britton also noted that they have established a Leanne Britton Foundation in memory of her late wife, who had adopted the special care unit in Kachikau under Chobe Safari Lodge. 

This was done to honour her commendable deeds in assisting the students at the school through donations, spending time with the students and helping them generally in their daily well-being.  Mr Britton announced that the foundation has organised a boat cruise for the Kachikau special unit children this month and a Christmas party for orphans on December 6. 

Ms Ratanang Sarefu, the Village Development Committee (VDC) secretary, who is also living with disability thanked the donors and wished them more blessings from the Lord. 

She said it was good not to hide one’s disability as that  would give other children an opportunity to see and grow through it.  Ms Sarefu said when she was growing up, they were stigmatized at school.  She said she was very happy that Chobe Safari Lodge had shown them that a human being cannot be defined by their disability.

In addition, she said, “A child with disability is someone who is always laughing, if you show them love they give it back to you, but if you treat them wrongly, they will have their own way of showing you that this is wrong,” she said. She appreciated that the students were gaining skills and knowledge that they would utilise during the course of their lives. 

Chobe Safari Lodge has adopted the Kachikau special care unit comprising of 12 boys and eight girls in an effort to provide support and care to these children living with disability.ENDS