02 Jul 2018

The three first ladies of Botswana, Lesotho and eSwatini visited Stepping Stones International organisation (SSI) in Mochudi to appreciate their work. Ms Neo Masisi of Botswana, Ms Maesaiah Thabane of Lesotho and Queen Inkhosikati Lantentesa of eSwatini toured SSI on June 29 .

 In her appreciation speech, Ms Masisi said she was impressed by the work carried out by SSI who have a holistic approach in addressing all facets of life especially empowering the girl child. She said what SSI was doing was close to her heart as she also had an initiative of empowering and working closely with  girls aged 2 to 18 years.

Ms Masisi said empowerment of adolescents covered all aspects vital for grooming such as God, love, food, counselling ,among others.

She said SSI empowered young girls with confidence and high self-esteem which capacitated them to say yes or no to certain things, like saying no to illiteracy, drugs and sex and saying yes to progress, achievement and responsibility that helped drive their life.

She said she was also pleased with the Granny’s Programme as they were the pillar and stream of undying support.

The programme, she said, also bridged the generational gap that existed between the elderly and the youth bringing both parties to a point of common ground.

Ms Masisi said when she was growing up, she was always ready to pay a visit to her grandmother because she was great, loving and caring.

She said the visit was an eye opener for her and would like to support them and promised to keep in touch.

SSI executive director, Ms Lisa Jamu said the organisation assisted a wide spectrum of youth across the country.

Ms Jamu said she started with seven youth and the number grew to 30.

She said they had assisted over 7 000 young people and trained about 250 primary school teachers.

Ms Jamu said participants were trained in programmess such as young mothers, leadership, and English literacy and also had children’s programmes targeting both schooling and out of school young people as well as Granny’s Programme.

Ms Jamu said they trained and provided psychosocial support, child protection, societal outreach, community mobilisation and capacity building.

She said they aimed to help Botswana meet Sustainable Development Goals and achieve Vision 2036, adding that they also aimed to expand to other districts and go international.

Ms Jamu highlighted that they wanted to undertake English literacy in schools so that student were able to comprehend examinations which were in English and also boost their confidence and enable them to communicate efficiently.

Ms Matshidiso Moilwe, 20 who is enrolled in Young Mothers’ Programme praised the programme for giving them hope when they were hopeless and in their vulnerable state.

Ms Moilwe said when they joined, they received counseling and life transforming information that made them discover themselves and perceive life differently.

She said she was a living testimony and encouraged other young mothers to enroll in the programme and acquire leadership and computer skills at no cost.

She asked the first ladies to pledge their support for the initiative as it was valuable to them and have learnt to be able to work with their hands and be productive.

Lesotho Cabinet permanent secretary, Ms Mataeli Makhele-Sekhantso said they were impressed with the work done by SSI and would like to invite them to Lesotho.

She said Lesotho would be hosting a 12^th Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer Conference which would be held from July 22 to 25 at Manthabiseng Convention Centre in Maseru at the invitation of the first lady Ms Thabane.

Ms Makhele-Sekhantso said all the first ladies in Africa had been invited and were expected to grace the conference.

When giving a vote of thanks, royal mother of Bakgatla ba Kgafela, Mma Seingwaeng said they were honoured and overwhelmed by the presence of the first ladies.

She said Mochudi was an interesting place with interesting people and many initiatives were birthed in the village.

She implored SSI management not to relocate from Mochudi as they were important to the community especially the youth and further advised them to freely use the main Kgotla to disseminate and make known their services and programs to the general public.

Mma Seingwaeng asked Bakgatla to support SSI to ensure it lived on through investments and other possible means. ENDS