27 Aug 2020

The First Lady, Ms Neo Masisi, on August 26 donated a sewing machine to Mothers Union Orphan Care Centre in Mahalapye.

Handing over the donation, Ms Masisi encouraged young mothers to use the machine to make face masks and sell them to generate income for the centre to improve their welfare.

“Nowadays, skills are the new currencies. So, learning new skills or sharpening those that you possess, is very important, to excel in life,” she said.

The sewing machine, which is one of the 10 that were recently donated to her office by the Chinese Embassy in Botswana, was also meant to empower the young mothers to learn to work hard and generate income for themselves.

She applauded the young mothers for their commitment and determination in raising their children and encouraged them to work hard to generate more income and buy a second sewing machine for the centre. 

The First Lady, who is also the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Special Ambassador for the Empowerment and the Engagement of Young People, officially unveiled the centre, which was funded through the support of UNAIDS, in September last year. 

The centre provides outreach projects and programmes, such as day care centre, orphan care programmes, street children project, prison ministry, home based care and campaign against Gender Based Violence (GBV) and human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Ms Masisi expressed concern about the escalation of GBV, urging parents to not sideline the boychild, in their quest to protect the girlchild from GBV. 

She also urged members of the public to continue observing the COVID-19 protocols to curb the spread of the coronavirus.   

In his welcome remarks, Mahalapye Deputy Kgosi, Kgosi Tshipe Tshipe, said women had phenomenal strength, wisdom and immeasurable love. 

This, Kgosi Tshipe said the love was also evident from the First Lady’s #Eseng mo ngwaneng! Campaign, through which she went around the country, advocating for the protection of children, more especially the girlchild, from any form of abuse. 

Giving a brief background of the centre, its coordinator, Ms Lesedi Selogelo said it had been providing comprehensive care and support to orphans and vulnerable children, including young mothers, at all stages of human development.

The care and support provided, Ms Selogelo said was right from conception and infancy, such as mother/infant care to young mothers, who have left junior secondary school, early education development for children under five, homework assistance to children at primary schools and life skills programmes to adolescents at junior secondary schools.

“Mothers Union continues to provide services up to the level of the adults who are caregivers of children, through the economic strengthening activity, for them to be able to provide services and assistance to their families,” she said.

Ms Selogelo said the ‘Mothers Union provides HIV/AIDS services to beneficiaries in the whole clinical cascade, that is from HIV/AIDS education, contact tracing, risk assessment, referral for testing, Antiretroviral Treatment initiation and viral load monitoring and has significantly contributed to the global targets’.

She said the centre had partnered with other organisations, which provided skills such as Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency and First National Bank of Botswana. 

She said the young mothers were also recently provided with seedlings donated by Spar, for them to start backyard gardening and make a living from the skills they learnt.

On behalf of the young mothers, Ms Lapologang Gaseitsiwe thanked the First Lady for the donation and for her love and support, saying they would use the proceeds from face masks to buy more sewing machines, as per the First Lady’s advice.

In her vote of thanks, Mothers Union Board chairperson, Ms Anastacia Matsheka thanked Ms Masisi for having chosen Mothers Union as one of the beneficiaries of the 10 sewing machines, saying the machine would help empower the young mothers and perfect their sewing skills.  

The ceremony was attended by among others Ministers Fraternal chairperson, Rev. Father Kenneth Mokgothu, Mahalapye Sub-district Council chairperson, Mr Banthasetse Merementsi, Mahalapye deputy district commissioner, Mr Bakuedi Masole, Mahalapye North Councillor, Ms Julia Miranda and Mahalapye Sub-district Senior Assistant Council Secretary, Mr Artwell Mlilo. ends