27 Mar 2019

Girls have been urged to take up science and engineering courses, which are critical to the country’s economy.

Rakhuna Military Garrison’s Captain Apelo Letsomo said this during a one-day workshop for girls from various secondary schools in the Good Hope Sub-district.

She implored girls to stand up for themselves and consequently pursue engineering courses, adding that girls were the future of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) .

Females blend well with males in the engineering field and a women could go up to the top if they believed in themselves. 

“The strength of a woman is inside and as such, they should stand up and act to show that they can really do it,” Captain Letsomo said.

 When narrating her story, Captain Letsomo said she was within the field of Social Work and after graduating she took a challenge to join Botswana Defence Force.

She later acquired Master`s Degree in Project Management. 

She further highlighted that she was also a director of her company called Maisha Strength Hub, adding that she did all this to show the strength of a woman.

For her part, gender affairs officer, Ms Neo Lepokane, said they organised the workshop to enlighten girls about violence.

Ms Lepokane said young girls should use any opportunity to be what they want to become unlike in the past where only boys were encouraged to go to school and work hard while girls would stay home.

“Today we need girls who are more focused and assertive in decision making to avoid being oppressed which will eventually lead to gender-based violence”, she added.

She further indicated that among all forms of abuse, emotional abuse was the most prevalent.

Ms Lepokane encouraged girls to build strong relationships with their parents so that they could feel free to share their problems thus curbing chances of being victims of abuse. ENDS