30 Oct 2017

The First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos has commended the government for being intentional about empowering women in sport.

“If you want a society that is less stressed out, you have to encourage them to be more involved in things that are less negative,” she said.

Speaking as the guest of honour at the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) High Meet on Saturday, Geingos said sport and exercise were the most important and constructive ways of managing the manifestations of a stressful society.

Sport, she said, was not regarded as a critical poverty eradication mechanism or a finance priority, but that it was.

“So the solution is facing us here, but it is the least funded solution and the least talked about inhibitor,” she added.

Sport, Geingos said, also helped people to be resilient, to utilise principles of team work and to improve their moods and mental health.

For that reason, she said it was better to encourage investment in sport than building alcohol rehabilitation clinics, “and every end of the month having police officers and nurses busy because they are dealing with consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.”

To shape mindsets, she stressed that it was important for leaders to serve as examples to those they led.

Geingos is UNAIDS special advocate for young women and adolescent girls.

She is also the founder of the One Economy Foundation and the BeFree movement, which concerns itself with challenges holding young people from reaching their potential, and was awarded the Namibian Business Personality of the Year and most Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year.

Another special guest at the event, South Africa’s award winning culinary star and TV personality, Siba Mtongana, shared her insights and experience in food by demonstrating proper ways of handling food in the kitchen as well as quick meals that busy women could prepare for their families.

Siba, who is best known for her show called: Siba’s Table on DSTV’s Food Network and an author and food expert, said as a woman influencing youngsters to take the lead in business and just forge forward, she was often conflicted between work and being a family woman.

“There is no perfect balance at all between being a mother, a wife and an entrepreneur,” she said.

However, being a born again Christian and being married to a man who is comfortable with what she does, Siba said it has made it easier for her to move forward and be the best in what she does.

International Working Group on Women and Sport patron and health and wellness minister, Dorcas Makgato, in her keynote address, said the High Meet was part of activities meant to kick start the momentum for the upcoming 7th IWG World Conference On Women and Sport.

The conference will be held in Gaborone from May 17 to 20, 2018, under the theme: Determine the future to be part of the change. Botswana, she said, would be hosting the 7th IWG World Conference On Women and Sport on behalf of the African continent.

“We will make the continent proud because we are not just hosting for Botswana. We are hosting on behalf of Sub-Saharan Africa, SADC and Africa as a continent.  So all pressure and all eyes will be on us, and therefore we have no choice but to make it a success,” she added.

The four-day conference is expected to attract more than 1 000 participants as well as decision makers in the sporting bodies at various levels.

The IWG patron said it was important as it would help decision makers see things the way they were in Botswana.

She said hosting the conference would also give the country an opportunity to showcase its talent, challenges and achievements to world.

She encouraged the IWG secretariat “to take the opportunity and make sure that, not only does it work for the continent and for the region, but that it also works for Botswana.”

For her part, IWG co-chairperson and the director of the Directorate of Public Service Management, Ruth Maphorisa, thanked Geingos for having accepted the invitation, saying it showed she believed in the noble course of advancing women.

Maphorisa also thanked Siba for having agreed to share her food expertise and demonstrate ways in which diet could complement busy careers and physically active bodies.

With the support of all stakeholders, the IWG co-chairperson said it was possible to host a successful conference and realise its vision and called upon all business communities to head the IWG secretariat’s call.

“We have a mammoth task before us as a country to ensure that as the world descends upon us we are prepared to host them.”

Guests at the High Meet that was themed: Corporate Social Investment- Towards Empowering Women & Girls in Sport in Botswana were stunning in their vintage spring outfits as per the dress code for the event.

The occasion was also attended by Botswana Netball Association patron and local government and rural development assistant minister, Botlogile Tshireletso and presidential affairs, governance and public administration permanent secretary, Kebonye Moepeng and IWG secretary, Game Mothibi. BOPA