30 Nov 2015

About 79 children graduated from a two-week pyscho-social therapeutic retreat camp for orphans that was hosted in Metlhabaneng. 

Addressing the children during a graduation ceremony in Gaborone, founder of AKD group charitable projects, Ms Caroline Desai said orphans, vulnerable children and caregivers go through excruciating pain in their lives.   

However, she said, AKD was doing its best to provide material support.

“Being an orphan is a traumatic experience, losing both of your parents destabilises a person, it causes problems especially one’s emotional state,” Ms Desai said. 

Despite the material support provided to the orphans, she said there was still need for psychological support. 

She emphasised the need for providing programmes that dealt with building self-esteem. 

However, Ms Desai said she was delighted that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development had been encouraging councils to fill the gap with a programme such as therapeutic retreat camp. 

For her part, Ms Kehumile Mogobe, the principal social welfare officer at Gaborone City Council (GCC) said since inception of the programme, they had sent three groups, most of them orphans who needed to deal with the loss of their parents. 

She said the therapy helped children to deal with their anguish and transform them.

“These children are not the same and they are different now, unlike before when they were afraid or scared to speak for themselves when abused,” she said.  Ends