20 Jun 2018

These Hands, in collaboration with the Botswana Innovation Hub and the Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAIS), is training 40 Lesoma residents on how to use certain skills to fend for themselves and their families.

The workshop is a result of the efforts of one 24-year-old Lesoma resident, Ernest Gobuiwamang.

After hearing about These Hands on Radio Botswana’s Lentswe la Monana in June last year, he realised that he and his fellow villagers could benefit.

Propelled by their struggles, Mr Gobuiwamang decided to follow-up on this potentially great opportunity for them to learn new skills.

Although it took almost a year for his efforts to bear fruit, and for the workshop to materialise, he did not lose faith or give up and the workshop commenced this month.

“It was not easy organising all this, but I had hope, and finally having them here means a lot because we will be able to gain knowledge and skills, especially those in line with farming because in our village, we are focused more on farming” said Mr Gobuiwamang.

These Hands company owner, 32-year-old Mr Thabiso Mashaba said they are capacitating 40 participants from Lesoma, whom Mr Gobuiwamang managed to recruit.

These Hands focuses on poverty-stricken villages, and according to the 2011 census poverty indicators report, Lesoma has a population of 600-700 people, 200-300 of them living in abject poverty, which is why they heeded the request.

The company is based in Gaborone, but has centres in D’kar, Rakops, Dutlwe and Kaputura.

Mr Mashaba said they would like to add Lesoma to the list, provided the villagers show commitment.

It has pioneered an alternative approach to the top down model of development, focusing on community-led development interventions.

These Hands works with local communities to help them create technological solutions to their local development challenges and generate income by participating in the creative industries’ sector.
“We have managed to train over 300 people, produced 19 prototypes, 12 of which are ready to go to market and are currently being explored for intellectual property protection, since we started operating in 2015” said Mr Mashaba in an interview with BOPA.

He said they hope to set up 10 more centres countrywide, because there is growing demand for their services.

He however lamented that due to insufficient funds they cannot meet their needs.

Meanwhile, Botswana Innovation Hub’s Entrepreneurship Development Officer - Technical Ms Boitumelo Rantswane encouraged the residents to use the skills acquired to better their lives.

Botswana International University of Science and Technology through Maranyane students, was also present to help the residents in the training programme.

The students also benefitted as it is practical work that adds to their continuous assessment.
“Being here and helping them in this training is beneficial for me because I have a module that covers wood and metal, and also helping the villagers is important because they can use these skills in future” said one of the students.

The project will take two weeks and will be a hands on training. Ends