15 Dec 2014

The Maun branch of the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) has handed over a house to a needy and disabled elderly woman at Sedie ward in Maun.

Speaking at the handover recently, the branch manager, Mr Matlatsi Masilo said that they started helping the 99 year-old Ms Maphulanga Ngonda in 2008, after she was identified by the North West District Council (NWDC) social welfare office.

Mr Masilo said when they first met her, she was living in a tent and she did not own or had her own personal plot. He said they took her to the Tawana Land Board (TLB), and helped her to apply for a plot, which was later allocated.

“We helped her to clear the plot and fence it and then took her to the Department of Water Affairs and helped her to apply for water connection,” said Mr Masilo.

Mr Masilo said with the help of Sedie Assemblies of God Church, they managed to construct first a one room for Ms Ngonda, adding that in 2010 the bank staff started building the second room that they completed last year.

He said they also built an outside cooking place for her, adding that the bank also plastered and painted both structures and equipped them with a bed and bedding. Mr Masilo said that they were helping the needy as a way of giving back to the community they live and work in.

When receiving the house, Ms Ngonda’s son, Mr Ngambera Kanjim said he was grateful for what the bank had done for his mother, especially that she was old and disabled.

Although he is unemployed, Mr Kanjim still takes care of his mother and expressed his appreciation that the new home would make things easier for him now as he knows that her mother has a proper home. ENDS