The Midweek Sun Mosadi Thari 50-day Challenge

Tomorrow marks exactly 50 days towards September 30, the 50th Anniversary of Botswana Independence.

And since August is slowly being accepted by some countries as Women’s Month, The Midweek Sun wishes to challenge 50 of Botswana’s prominent women to contribute a fraction of their resources, in cash or in kind, to change the life of a burdened young woman we feature on this page.

Not that the young girl is the only one in the country who needs the compassion of these powerful women, and certainly not to mean only the listed women should or can participate in this challenge, but that this would be a significant gesture to symbolise the role of women as pillars of society. We wish these women to join hands in whatever way, to eventually assist this young girl to live an improved life by September 30, which has been her wish and hope.

This will be something the women can proudly look back at on Independence Day and pat themselves that they have made a difference in a young girl’s life. At The Midweek Sun, we believe in the power of Woman. As pronounced by Proverbs 31, ‘A virtuous woman works with willing hands, provides food for her household, works very hard to make sure her business earns a profit, dresses herself and her family and always gives to the poor and helps those in need.”

We thus appeal to these women to make an example of this girl child, for such are the future pillars of the nation, and women, more than anybody else, have a responsibility to protect them.

This young girl may grow to become just like these women if we help unburden her of the responsibilities of taking care of incapacitated grown-ups at least by providing her with BETTER shelter.

The aim of the initiative is to foster compassion and encourage unity of which the country prides itself as it celebrates 50 years of Independence. All this should be done in 50 days which elapse exactly on Independence Day. The wish is to see Kelebogile’s home transform from the makeshift shack in the picture to the two-roomed prefab structure that can be erected in less than two weeks at a cost of only P20 000 by Baagi, a concrete products company based in Mogoditshane.

Can the 50 women, and even more, stand up to beat the challenge in the 50 days towards Bot50 to ensure Kelebogile has a memorable 2016! As they say in Setswana, Mosadi ke thari ya sechaba.  Her story follows below. Can we do this for the girl child? The challenge officially begins tomorrow on August 11. And the women are: