28 Apr 2019

Visiting Belgium midwifery and nursing students recently presented donations to Francistown Centre for the Deaf and Phatlogo Primary School learners as a way of giving back to the community.

The centre received a jungle jim, a children’s game as well as cutlery and crockery while Phatlogo Primary School pupils were presented with sunglasses, 10 bales of wool and knitting kits.

The donations were made by Valentine Adams, Lauren Keymolen, Estee Michiels and Charlotte Camps of Genk, Belgium, which has a twinning agreement with Francistown dating many years.

Speaking on behalf of the team, the 12th to participate in the exchange programme, Adams said the donations were an expression of their appreciation for their stay in Francistown.

Before making the donation, the Genk students had done some research to establish the needs. Institute of Health Sciences Francistown principal, Ms Keamogetse Masupologo said the exchange programme did not only benefit IHS Francistown students but the community at large.

Ms Masupologo said the students’ gesture was encouraged. She said the institute had also benefited from the exchange programme as some of its students were sent to Belgium.

For his part, Botswana Society for the Deaf director, Mr Kabelo Seadimo expressed appreciation for the good work done by the Belgian students. Head of Department for Special Education, Ms Tumelo Cebani explained that the donated items were exactly what they had asked for.

For his part, Phatlogo Primary School head, Mr Robert Tshambani said the school had a unique environment as it admitted both the partially and completely blind learners.

Mr Tshambani said the school experienced different challenges including shortage of resources and an environment not conducive for visually impaired learners. Other challenges were lack of Internet connectivity which hindered the learning process as well as congestion as a result of limited space, he said.

He called for the construction of walkways to make it easy for learners to move freely. Mr Tshambani commended the special unit teachers for their commitment. ENDS