Africa-Press – Botswana. Pudulogong Rehabilitation and Development Trust for the Blind in Mochudi recently received equipment valued over P1 million from Debswana.
The donation included a Toyota Hilux GD6, 10 computers, jaws special software for the visually impaired, perkins braillers, beds, mattresses as well as borehole drilling and equipping.
Handing over the equipment, Debswana head of corporate affairs, Ms Rachel Mothibatsela, said the donation was meant to make the learning environment exciting for the visually impaired.
Ms Mothibatsela said the equipment would empower and ease learners’ communication, connect and access information.
In addition to enhancing access to technology, she said Debswana saw the need to assist the centre in its ambitious goal of diversifying and venturing into food production.
Ms Mothibatsela said the centre was already undertaking poultry production, albeit at a small scale and had a dream of scaling up in the area of agriculture.
This, she said, was also aligned to Debswana’s principle to ensure implementation of sustainable socio-economic development projects.
Therefore, Ms Mothibatsela said the donation would assist with the development of Pudulogong’s agricultural project by way of drilling and equipping a borehole.
She said the project was also envisaged to add value to the lives of the graduates as they would be equipped to undertake agriculture related project in future.
Shee said Debswana’s dream was for the centre to become self-sustainable.
She attributed the donations to Debswana’s key pillar strategy of Building Forever, which she said was also in line with Vision 2036 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“The Building Forever strategy supports women, girls and people with disabilities by enabling access to entrepreneurship opportunities, capacity building and encouraging females to take Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses,” said Ms Mothibatsela.
For his part, Pudulogong Centre coordinator, Mr David Ratsatsi, said the donation was a remarkable feat, noting that the centre needed continuous support to achieve its dream of helping the visually impaired.
He said learners with disabilities deserved to benefit fully from the education system.
However, Mr Ratsatsi said due to limited resources in government coffers, the centre was depending on good Samaritans like Debswana to augment the little subvention received from government.
Mr Ratsatsi commended Debswana for the noble gesture, stating that the consignment would go a long way in helping the centre to be self-sustainable.
He said Pudulogong was conceptualised by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1982 and registered as a trust in 1998.
Mr Ratsatsi said the centre existed to provide rehabilitation and craft skills to persons with visual impairment and the blind.
Mr Ratsatsi said rehabilitation programmes offered at the centre include music, braille and vocational courses at certificate level in agriculture, business management, secretarial and administration among others.
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