All in Nelson Mandela spirit

Hatsalatladi Primary School students and Kgothatso Day Care Centre children received an early Christmas present from the South African High Commission to Botswana after it donated shoes and groceries to them last week.

The donation was made in commemoration of the Nelson Mandela International Day which is commemorated annually on July 18th, the late South African icon’s birthday. The South African High Commission in partnership with Nayang Association, the Botswana Alumni Chapter of the University of Cape Town, Liberty Life, Seabelo Express, Choppies Group and the South African Business Forum mobilised the goods and presented them to the less privileged children.

Presenting the donation, SA High Commissioner Mdu Lembede said they decided to donate 70 pairs of shoes at Hatsalatladi Primary School so that they can look like any other child when they come to school. The school has an enrolment of 308 pupils. Hatsalatladi Primary School’s Parents Teachers Association (PTA) chairperson Lilian Keabile expressed gratitude to the embassy for the timely donation.

On the same day, the embassy donated grocery and foodstuffs to Kgothatso Day Care Centre in Gabane, which looks after about 60 children, most of them living with HIV/AIDS. “When Nelson Mandela retired from public life, he said ‘I have done my work the best I could and now I am handing over to you to carry on with my work’. So what we are doing here is doing what Madiba loved. He loved children so much,” said Lembede.

During the Nelson Mandela Day, people are asked to devote 67 minutes of their time every year to assist the disadvantaged in the communities. “The 67 represents the time he spent in politics and 27 of those years, he was in prison,” explained Lembede.

Kgothatso Day Care Centre Chairperson Ntebaleng Modise thanked the embassy for the kind gesture. The Kgothatso program was started in 2005 as a community project to address HIV/ AIDS issues in the village of Gabane and to cater for children who suffer from lack of resources.

“The centre seeks to ensure that children are well catered for by providing nutrition, education and psychological life support and life skills for teenagers,” said Modise.