04 Oct 2020

The Holy Bible in the book of James 1, verse 27 says, ‘Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.’

On the one hand, Psalms 82:3, says ‘give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute’.

Everyone needs a little help sometimes. After all, no one is meant to go through life alone. If life has given you blessings, it’s important to share those with your community.

For some people, that could mean volunteering with a local charity or donating to a good cause.

Mmabana Day Care Centre situated in Lerala in the Lerala/Maunatlala constituency is a non-profit, non-governmental pre-school overseen and run by a group of women in Lerala; it being their way of giving back to their community and lending a hand to its growth and development.

The preschool was established in 2002 as a community-based initiative to cater for orphans and vulnerable children and other children in the community.

In setting up the school, which offers early childhood education, its pioneers felt compelled due to the high numbers of orphans as a result of HIV/AIDS pandemic, hence they grouped themselves to assist voluntarily in this respect.

To the chairperson of the board operating the day care centre, Ms Grace Motsamai, the centre was established to assist with early childhood development and help relieve the burden of childcare from parents and guardians of the affected children.

Mmabana started with just 49 learners, and to carry out its teaching and learning activities, the school relies on its staff complement which comprises one trained teacher, two assistant teacher volunteers and a kitchen attendant.

For every child enrolled with it, the centre strives to ensure they receive the attentive, nurturing care they need to grow, thrive and develop fully.

Currently, the centre’ school fees stands at P700 per term but parents and guardians are allowed to break down the amount into smaller installments payable on a monthly basis.

However, despite the flexibility of the payment plan, some parents still fail to pay full amount, something that results in some long-standing debts.

The board chairperson hails companies like Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and Central District Council for supporting the institution, and commends them for ensuring that it manages to feed the kids.

Such help has also seen Mmabana Day Care Centre getting a new face as it enabled for the fencing of the school premises and painting of classrooms.

Ms Motsamai, though very disheartened by the general lack of interest in the work of the centre by most community members, is nonetheless happy that the few who see the need to support it do so wholeheartedly.

Despite all this, she is happy that the centre is able to make a mark on the lives of the children studying at it and every single day puts a smile on their innocent faces.

“We operate under difficult circumstances, we have a lot of challenges, but we will keep pushing because the impact we are making on the lives of these children is worth the effort,” he says.

For the children, they have found the new home, one that they look forward to spending the day at every opportunity they may get.

One of teacher volunteers, Ms Annah Moganetsi, loves the fact that they provide quality education through child-centered learning, which is possible because of the collaborative school environment they have built as well as their passion for early childhood education.

She is happy that Mmabana provides orphaned and vulnerable children with a safe and stigma-free environment; in which they can easily access quality education, and also empowers the caregivers of vulnerable children to compassionately and competently care for them.

To another volunteer, Ms Ontibile Lepuru every child deserves to have their basic needs met, including their needs for loving guardianship and a quality education.

‘’We hope that every child we serve learns to envision a future in which he or she goes on to live a happy, healthy and productive life,’’ she says.

Mmabana offers every child two healthy and hearty meals a day, which for some children, are their only source of regular nutrition.

However, some challenges, such as the repeated break-ins and theft, continue to worry the school’s management.

In such scenarios, school supplies such as stationery, groceries and recently some play equipment got stolen.

The fact that the day care centre is yet to connect electricity to its premises does not help the situation and makes life there generally difficult.

Though they try to give their all to their work, Mmabana employees are saddened by the fact that when called for meetings at the centre, most parents hardly ever turn up.

This trend worries them, and makes them wonder if, to parents, Mmabana is merely a place where parents dump their children each morning so that they can carry on the affairs of their daily lives with no disturbances related to having to provide child care.  ENDS