Africa-Press – Botswana. Women have been encouraged to support Walk of Hope to achieve its goal of raising funds to purchase 1 000 shoes for the underprivileged learners across Botswana.
Managing director of New Era College Mr Danish Sobhani thus encouraged attendees of the Mosadi Tia High Tea event in Gaborone on Saturday.
He said uniting with Walk of Hope, a charitable organisation on the project, would go a long way in improving the lives of the beneficiaries and promote learning.
Mosadi Tia High Tea event, which aimed to raise funds for the underprivileged learners, brought together successful women from different backgrounds, entrepreneurs, Executives and community leaders for charity purposes.
Briefing the attendees on the school’s Corporate Social Responsibly activities, Sobhani said although they often carried out such activities independently, they had realised the need for collaborating with other agencies.
He said the aim of the event was to recognise and appreciate women for transforming industries and building communities.
“It is a setup to encourage and empower women to take charge and know their self-worth,” Mr Sobhani said.
He said one of their stakeholders, Walk of Hope addressed issues such as social ills, empowering girls, women and the disadvantaged communities.
“To me they are an agent of hope since in the past we partnered with them and campaigned against Gender Based Violence, teenage pregnancy, just to mention a few,” he said.
Mr Sobhani said the school had events such as The Round Table talk, which was geared towards celebrating women in Engineering sector.
“We take pride in the fact that New Era’s Faculty of Engineering has many Engineering programmes two of them being Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering, which are all headed by women,” she said.
In recognising the founder of Walk of Hope, Ms Theriso Motsemeng, Mr Sobhani said her gallantry initiative emphasised the Setswana saying that ‘mosadi ke thari ya setshaba.’
Ms Motsemeng also the director of Walk of Hope, said the high tea was one of their 10-year anniversary celebration activities, which aimed to raise funds to buyng 1 000 school shoes for underprivileged learners across Botswana who endured the hardship of attending school barefooted.
She said Walk of Hope had the shoe drive campaign, food hampers drive, sanitary pads drive and the Teen Mother’s Project.
The organisation has impacted over 10 000 lives from different communities in the marginalised groups, having disbursed over P300 000 over the past six years.
She said Mosadi Tia was a call for women to take charge of their lives and take steps towards achieving their goals.
The high tea event aimed to bring together women from all walks of life to network, share experiences, and inspire one another towards personal and professional growth, she said.
Motsemeng said in addition to raising funds for school shoes, the event sought to achieve several goals that would advance women’s empowerment, focusing on areas such as promoting gender equality and empowering women to take on leadership roles in their communities and workplaces.
She said they also yearned to create awareness about the challenges that women faced, such as gender-based violence, discrimination and unequal access to education and economic opportunities.
Motsemeng said they also provided platforms for women to share their stories.
A survivor of GBV herself, Ms Motsemeng said the hardships led to her attempt suicide by taking 15 tablets at a go, which resulted in her being in a comma for three months.
She said her desire was to witness women making positive life decisions. Ms Motsemeng, who survived three strokes and was wheel chair bound for some time, said women needed to be empowered and know their worth.
Botswana National Youth Council chairperson, Ms Moitshepi Macheng revealed that her organisation had been supporting Walk of Hope for sometime now, adding that she was in attendance to encourage women to come together to build strong communities.
She thanked Ms Motsemeng for leading an exemplary life that demonstrated that it was possible for women to overcome life’s challenges.
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