04 Apr 2019

Lack of recreational facilities has been identified as one of the factors that cause young people to turn to social ills.

Some young people concurred that lack of sporting facilities and the inadequacy of existing recreational facilities were the cause of increasing alcohol and drug abuse as well as teenage pregnancies.

They expressed their views in a random interview, saying that they had long requested government to set up recreational places, where they could hang out with friends safely, indoors and affordable and where they had a sense of ownership.

“We need somewhere to go and hang out on the weekends and holidays because we have nowhere to go and we only end up getting into trouble,” said one of the youths who preferred anonymity.

She stressed that they needed more diverse recreational activities.

To address the challenge, San Konnecxion adopted a public-private-community partnership (PPCP) approach in an effort to develop a recreational park at Matlapana ward in Maun.

The project would be jointly developed at an area popularly known as Matlapana beach by San Konnecxion, Matlapana Village Development Committee (VDC) and the public for a mutual benefit, while providing maximum benefit to the wider Maun community.

San Konnecxion is a company devoted to helping communities realise their control as well as unleash that power of partnering with them in creating an exciting and educational environment for the enjoyment of all and at the economic sustenance of the communities.

The company’s public relation officer, Ms Enaleone Manyeagae revealed that the project proposal was the best in addressing Matlapana’s economic, social and environmental issues.

She said they rise to the challenges and welcome any opportunity to work closely with locals to come up with realistic solutions to the issues faced by Maun as a tourism hub that is no longer serving its people the way it should.

“We believe that the recreational park will best serve our people as in the country we do not have much recreational and leisure facilities correspondent with today’s young Motswana.

We see a lot of mishaps that could have possibly been avoided given the effective stress relieving activities and we have been blessed with such creative and forward thinking younger generations,” she added.

Ms Manyeagae stressed the need to be concerned with the young as they are the future.

The company has also joined hands with the government in promoting healthy lifestyles as it believes that stakeholders can unite for a cause and claim victory. ENDS