10 Sep 2018

Thapelong Empowerment Trust has put in place a number of projects aimed at empowering people with disabilities.

Presenting a donation of mobility aids worth P50 000 to the Disability Office recently, trust chairperson Ms Charity Hiscox said their aim was to empower people living with disabilities with skills.

She said the trust had nine different courses for people with disabilities and that a total of 25 were trained last year.

This year,  she said, 80 people were equipped with different skills such as events management, food preparation and preservation as well as  bartending to mention a few.”

All the courses had Botswana Qualification Authority accreditation, she said.

Another project she mentioned was  Lere-le-ojwa-le-sale-metse which involved feeding the needy and assisting school-going children with their homework on daily basis.

“We have since partnered with Raditladi Primary School and we feed the school-going children who could otherwise not have anything to eat after school,” she said.

Another project, she said, was for the elderly who stayed alone and entailed visiting them, cleaning their homesteads as well as doing their laundry.

“The beauty of it is that it is done by people living with disability” she said pointing out that it was the blind who cooked for the needy which proved “disability is not inability”.

Ms Hiscox said living with a disability did not mean the person was less of a human being and could still live a normal life and contribute positively to society.

She said the trust aimed at changing mindsets to help people understand and appreciate that people living with disabilities were able and could do great things.

Regarding the donation, Ms Hiscox said the aim was to reach every person who could not walk as to enhance their movement.

She mentioned that they had partnered with some UK organisations which were in the  process of sending to Botswana different mobility aids ranging from hospital beds, electric wheelchairs, special shoes for children, bathing wheelchairs, and other various equipment worth of P450 000.

For his part, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Thuso Ramodimoosi applauded the trust for coming up with initiatives that would bolster the lives of people living with disabilities.

Mr Ramodimoosi mentioned that out of Botswana’s population of 2.2 million, 2.92 per cent lived with disability.

He welcomed the trust’s assistance saying government alone could not succeed in improving the quality of life of people living with disabilities.

He emphasised the need for collaborative efforts in the achievement of goals.

Mr Ramodimoosi said he was touched by the trust’s act of benevolence and the spirit of compassion.

Educating people living with disabilities, he pointed out, was in line with government’s objectives of empowering all Batswana. ENDS