04 Jul 2022

 What better way to ease a child’s journey through education than assist them with the basics.

That is exactly what Mogoditshane Roman Catholic Church youth movement did on Saturday, they held an aerobics activity, to collect and donate shoes to pupils of low income families in Mogoditshane through the Donate a Pair of Shoes Initiative.

Individuals who graced the activity at Mogoditshane Senior School, brought with them a pair of shoes as a gate pass to participate in the aerobics marathon session.

The initiative now in its third year has managed to raise nearly 350 pairs of shoes since its inception in 2017.

In the three years, pairs of shoes were raised and distributed to five primary schools in Mogoditshane to children in need.

“We do this through partnering with companies, volunteer groups, as well as individual donations,” said a representative of the Chiro youth movement Mr Duncan Motlhokodise.

Mr Motlhokodise explained that since inception of the project, they had realized that raising pairs of shoes through donations was such a mammoth task as donors took time to participate in the exercise.

However, this year they decided to add fun activities to encourage and entice individual donors to donate pairs of shoes.

This year, the youth movement stepped up the campaign through an aerobics marathon session followed by a handing over ceremony over dinner at the church.

“People donate old and new pairs of shoes,’’ said Mr Motlhokodise. He further explained that the project came to a standstill when COVID 19 hit which was a set back on their side since the event was scheduled to be an annual event.

Over 150 pairs of shoes were raised for the project and each school was given 22 pairs while the rest were set aside for the church’s charitable activities.

On the list of sponsors were PEP and CB stores as well as Gaborone University College (GUC). Mr Motlhokodise made a plea to corporations and other individual sponsors to take part on the initiative to restore the dignity of these children as it was believed to boost their self-esteem and confidence to participate in school activities without shame.

One of the participants Rev. Sister Boitumelo Wadikgosi said in an interview that she was impressed by the actions of the youth of the church as they demonstrated that they wanted to lead from the front and took it upon themselves to clothe children in their community with dignity.

She nonetheless noted that the exercise did not only benefit the less privileged but participants too benefitted by engaging in a health exercise that could add some more years in their lives.

The five schools that benefitted in this exercise were Moamogwe, Lesirane, Nkoyaphiri, Solomon Dihutso and Mogoditshane primary schools. ENDS