Japanese NGOs offer Batswana orphans a lifetime chance

A delegation of Ashinaga - a Japan-based non-profit organisation that provides educational and emotional support to orphaned students - will visit Botswana this week Thursday to Saturday to screen candidates for the 100-Year Vision Scholarship Program for 2018. An official of the Embassy of Japan in Botswana Uemura Yoshihiro said the representatives include Yoshihiro Imamura, the Director,  Ashinaga Uganda and Sarah Bourenane , Staff, Ashinaga USA. Imamura holds MA in Pubic Management and boasts 18 years in Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); one year with Ashinaga as well as six years with Local Government in Japan. In a brief to the media, Yoshihiro said that Ashinaga has supported over 95,000 orphans in the last 45 years, and many of its graduates are actively contributing to society in a variety of fields across the world.

Yoshihiro said that candidates in Botswana were identified after applications were opened from October to February and received via online platforms, email and post. The 100 Year-Vision scholarship programme began in 2014. It provides talented orphaned students from 35 Sub-Saharan African countries with the opportunity to apply for and to potentially pursue a higher education – at the level of undergraduate degree - at the world’s leading universities outside Africa in the US, UK, Japan and Brazil among others. The Botswana candidates – exclusively orphans - will thus be subjected to document screening as a first selection process of the short-listing and then high school results will be considered including their willingness to contribute to their society through essay writing will be screened, said Yoshihiro. Through education, Ashinaga hopes to empower its students to make the change that they wish to see in their communities, countries, and Africa as a whole. The Ashinaga representatives will conduct interviews with the shortlisted candidates at the Embassy of Japan on Friday 13th April 2018.