01 Dec 2013

One of the biggest challenges facing SOS children’s villages is the ultimate reintegration of the children into the mainstream society, says former vice president, Lt Gen. Mompati Merafhe.

Officiating at the first ever SOS children villages gala dinner in Serowe on November 30, Lt Gen. Merafhe said there could never be a solid society without children who were properly brought up and guided. Thus, he appealed to all Batswana to assume collective responsibility to assist, whichever way possible.

Lt Gen. Merafhe further acknowledged management of the SOS children’s villages for having contributed their time, skills and resources as "it takes a village to raise a child".

SOS, which started in in 1945 immediately after the Second World War, was a response to the many displaced children who were roaming the streets whose parents were killed during the war and their homes destroyed.

However, in Botswana it was started in 1987 and was the brain child of Dr Pearl Mashalaba and Lady Ruth Khama and already had three villages in Tlokweng, Francistown and Serowe which takes care of 508 children and a further 1 519 children under its Family Strengthening Programme.

Already, 350 children have graduated from SOS since its inception. The introduction of SOS in Botswana, Lt Gen. Merafhe said was a result of a concern about the plight of orphans and abandoned children and the modification in the role of the traditional extended family system.

He said the three villages had offered opportunities for many children to live in a home, within a family environment with a caring mother, brothers and sisters, as well as to have a sense of identity and to be presented with many possibilities that enable them to express their own individual talent and skill.

“These children have received health care, education, training and skill needed to successfully integrate into the wider Botswana society,” he said.

Giving overview remarks, SOS board chairperson, Major General Bakwena Oitsile said the gala dinner would be made an annual event so as to use it to raise funds to augment what they were already receiving from foreign donors, government and other well-wishers.

Major General Oitsile said they need about P19 million annually to run their villages saying they only get 70 percent from foreign donors while government gives only P1.3 million hence the need to raise P6 million.

Thus, he appealed to Batswana to help SOS lobby government to give more hence the theme, ‘Bana ba le ba lona’. He said it should be easy for government to support SOS.

Already, he said they were forced to prioritise some of their operations saying they have now closed kindergarten in Tlokweng and were also considering closing the one in Serowe. Though they were also not spared by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, he said the figures were not so alarming adding that they were managing in that regard.

Major General Oitsile also paid tribute to the Khama family for playing a significant role in contributing to the villages. Ends