16 Jul 2022

Wilderness Safari Company through its ‘Children in the Wilderness Botswana’ initiative have raised over P1million to construct additional structures at Eretsha Primary School in the Okavango Sub-district.

The funding will cater for construction of two classroom block with fittings and furniture; ablution block for both girls and boys with water, installation of a water reticulation system within the school grounds as well as fencing of the school premises.

This was revealed by Wildness Safari Company’s managing director, Mr Kim Nixon during a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony with Okavango Sub-district Council recently.  

He said the partnership between them and the council was a symbol of their commitment to improve infrastructure at Eretsha Primary School.

“We have now achieved our dream of building a school at Eretsha and I give credit to council leadership, Eretsha chief for approaching us after identifying the need,” he said.

Mr Nixon explained that they had been pro-partners with the community for more than 22 years.

He also said they had the intention to construct another school at Tsodilo to ensure that children had access education, adding that they had already engaged council on the project.

Giving the background of the partnership, Okavango Sub-Council, assistant council secretary, Mr Losika Kula explained that the two entities shared a common mandate of uplifting and alleviating communities in Ngamiland District from poverty.

He said their partnership could be traced back to 1996 when the company entered into a partnership with Okavango Community Trust (OCT) in the eastern panhandle of the Okavango Delta. The trust represents five villages of Seronga, Gunotsoga, Eretsha, Beetsha and Gudigwa and Wilderness Safaris operates in an area adjacent the village in Vumbura Plains.

By virtue of operating in the region, Mr Kula revealed that the company saw it fit to extend a helping hand to Eretsha community by constructing additional classroom blocks to cater for upper classes. The school, he said was established as a satellite School in 2015 to bridge the distance for students who walked 10km to the nearest primary school at Beetsha.

Initially the school was meant to enroll standard 1-4 only, and in the long run, the community requested that it be extended to upper classes of standard 5-7 citing social ills caused by separating children from their parents.

“The school was registered and declared a fully-fledged primary school last year hence the need for infrastructure that could match the demand,” he added.

For his part, North West District Council chairperson, Mr Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho appreciated the partnership saying children of Eretsha would enjoy access to basic enabling education infrastructure.

A suitable learning environment for school children, he said would lead to academic excellence adding that the gesture would also contribute significantly to the Nation Vision pillar 2036 of ‘human and social development.’

He commended the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for endorsing the infrastructure of the school, adding that through Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan, some additional education facilities had been funded this financial year.

He also thanked Wilderness Safari Company for committing to support projects of similar nature in future. Children in the Wilderness is an initiative which aims to facilitate sustainable conservation through leadership development and education of children in Africa and through the partnership both entities seek to create an enabling environment for learning and teaching and eventually improving schools performance. ENDS