19 Dec 2021

The Belle Larissa mentorship programme which empowers children with the skills needed to enhance their social and emotional growth has already hosted about 250 young people from the different parts of Botswana since the beginning of the year.

Last Thursday, Belle Larissa founder, former Miss Botswana (2007), Malebogo Marumoagae wrapped up the year with children in Old Naledi.

In an interview, Marumoagae said she was happy that the programme had been a success and had left children ready to face the future.

“Our main aim is to teach them about confidence and to boost their self-esteem. The programme teaches them to know who they are and to believe in themselves,” she said.

She encouraged them to always know that they were created differently by God therefore they had different talents.

Children were also encouraged to understand that their background did not determine their future.

Marumoagae added that they recently hosted a fruitful workshop in Mmankgodi from which they realised that children needed mentorship and to know what the future holds even if they came from rural areas.

She thanked teachers and parents for embracing the initiative.

However, she said a lot still needed to be done to assist young people in the country.

“In these workshops i realised that a lot needed to be done since many did not want to get out of the shell,” she said.

She also thanked government and the European Union for the support towards the programme.

She explained that their goal was to focus on mentoring children in rural areas in order to close the gap between them and those in urban areas.

“The aim is to make those in the rural areas to know that they can be anything they want to be and not be intimidated by where they come from,” she added.

Men and Boys for Gender Equality Kids mobiliser, Kitso Mauchaza also encouraged the children to have a purpose in life and never to allow anyone to make them believe that they were worthless.

“One aspect that also boosts their self-confidence is self-love. When you have self-love and are assertive you cannot allow anyone to force you do anything against your will,” he said.

Mauchaza also encouraged them to make the right choices and remember that those who had chosen to use drugs were now struggling because it was difficult to stop the behaviour.

As part of the programme, children were engaged in writing a positive poem entitled ‘I Am’ which was intended to boost their confidence. They also made vision boards that would help them to know where they wanted to be in future.

Belle Larissa, has since its inception in 2012, empowered many through etiquette classes for children and teenagers. ENDS