16 Nov 2014

The University of Botswana (UB) Okavango Research Institute (ORI) director, Professor Wellington Masamba has said the institute aims to do research that will benefit communities in their vicinity.

Speaking at a donation of life jackets to Sexaxa and Matlapana communities in Maun on  November 13, Prof Masamba noted that ORI embarked on researches not only for academic purposes but those that would address problems faced by the communities in Maun and Botswana at large.

He said that ORI has joined hands with private companies to help the communities around their institution.  The 30 live jackets, which 20 were for adults and 10 for children were donated by Botswana Building Society (BBS) to ORI for the latter’s community project.

Giving an overview of the community project, Dr Mike Murray-Murphy of ORI said the institution’s plan was to provide short and long term solutions to assist communities who lived by the river. Dr Murray-Murphy said provision of life jackets to the Sexaxa and Matlapana communities was their first intervention for those people to cross the river safely.

He noted that ORI as part of the Maun community was worried by the increasing number of deaths caused by drowning incidents in the Thamalakane river.

“The life jackets will be managed by the community for all to have access to them in times of need,” he said. Dr Murray-Murphy said the Sexaxa and Matlapana communities had a peculiar situation since some people resided on the other side of the river and had to cross the river daily to go to work or to access other services. He said the other interventions by ORI were to provide training for community life guards who will assist in times of drowning accidents.

Furthermore, ORI will provide swimming lessons to children of Sexaxa and Matlapana, which will be done with the help of Botswana Defence Force in Maun. Dr Murray-Murphy further said they would train people of those settlements on canoe or boat management and the standards of canoes, adding that their mandate was to empower communities.  ENDS