23 Oct 2017

UNICEF representative to Botswana, Ms Jullianna Lindsey says the purpose of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security the world over.

Speaking at the 30th Peace Poster Contest Valedictory and official awarding of prizes for the Lions Club (Gaborone) Peace Poster over the weekend, Ms Lindsey explained that the mandate called for equal human rights in recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.

She said people should start to think about the way they treated one another, which might contribute to situations that were not peaceful.

“Situations that are tense or provoke arguments or even fights,” she added.

Ms Lindsey said people got upset if they were not treated equally or when their rights were not respected.

“This is often why nations or groups of people go to war, they perceive rightly or wrongly, that their rights have been violated and they have not been treated well,” she said.

She explained that one other critical aspect when thinking about how to create a more peaceful world was empathy.

“This means understanding someone’s feelings,” she said adding that, ‘You don’t necessarily have to agree with their feelings, but it is important to put yourself in their shoes and look at an issue from their standpoint’.

She said back in 2015, countries agreed to the Sustainable Development Goal, which covers everything from health to education to protecting oceans and fish.

She said counties did something special and committed themselves that the 17 goals were for every single person on planet earth, whether rich or poor, white or black or any other colour, male or female, young or old.

Ms Lindsey said this required more effort and in Botswana it meant finding creative ways of reaching out to vulnerable populations who lived far from the cities.

“It means giving extra help to children who enter school not speaking Setswana, much less English. It means making sure we spend money to help the poor to create their own income,” she said.

She applauded Botswana for being a peaceful country, adding that everyone in Botswana respected the rights and dignity of others.

She said having lived in countries that were in the middle of wars and other catastrophes, she did not want to see a Motswana child hearing bombings or being afraid of the safety of their families.

Meanwhile, president of Lions Club, Ms Kabita Bose said Gaborone Lions Club engaged in many humanitarian projects and did voluntary work to meet the needs of the community.

She said some of the annual programmes included eye screening, peace poster contest, Christmas hamper donations, diabetes awareness and carols by candle light,

Ms Bose further explained that the club had done a number of one-time community projects such as donation of a wheel chair, the reading action programme, environmental awareness, the juvenile prison project, renovation of school property, the centennial legacy project - which saw the building of a primary school at Letoreng.

Lions Club International is an international secular, non-political service organisation founded by Melvin Jones in 1917.

Today, the club has over 4 600 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members in over 200 countries around the world.

Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, the organisation aims to meet the needs of communities at local and global scale. Lions Club Gaborone was chattered in August 23, 1970 with only 34 members and today the membership stands at 55. ENDS