BIUST Handover Leobo La Kgotla Donation to Palapye
Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) vice-chancellor professor Otlogetswe Totolo recently handedover a P136 000.00 worth shelter (Leobo la Kgotla) to the Palapye main Kgotla. The shelter was handed over to Kgosi Martha Lebang. Amongst other village leaders, former Kgosi Masego Olebile, Member of Parliament for Palapye Oneetse Ramogapi, and the Palapye Administration Authority (PAA) chairperson Khumoyame Lekoko graced the event.
The university resumed construction of the shelter earlier this year in March and completed three months later in May. This was despite delays owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The construction of the shelter was BIUST’s answer to a plea from the village chiefs that decried the ever-growing community of a rapidly developing Palapye overwhelmed the kgotla’s old shelter during mass gatherings.
Totolo said the university’s answer to the plea, was an expression of its commitment to being a good citizen that is concerned for the community development and the environment.
He said through the shelter donation and various other project they delivered to the village thus far, they were appreciating the Palapye community for their sacrifices and relocation from their homes, ploughing lands and cattle-posts, and accommodating the University on a 2 500 hectors of land.
While he expressed delight to handing over the completed Leobo la Kgotla, the vicechancellor said they would continually strive to improve performance, and ensuring their activities contribute to the sustainable development of the communities in which they operate.
“Our Corporate Social Responsibility initiative is a crucial part of our values and this leobo was done as a means of expressing our commitment to the Palapye stakeholders,” he said.
He reckoned Kgotla, as a traditional meeting place for the community, and an important community place in the Setswana culture would help the university learn about the culture of the village to become good citizens of Palapye.
“We need to know and understand the culture of this village to remain relevant to the needs of our hosts. This is in keeping with the time-old words of our Founding President, Sir Seretse Khama who once famously said, ’A nation without a culture is a lost nation’,” he said, quoting Botswana’s first President Sir Seretse Khama.
When appreciating BIUST and its gesture, Kgosi Lebang said the village was headed for exponential growth and development, thus resulting in a need for supporting social welfare facilities amongst them a well-developed and capacitated Kgotla.
“We take pride in hosting BIUST in our village. They have over many times in various situations presented themselves not only as a centre for higher learning but also a partner in village economic and social development,” she said.
She appreciated the efforts, the research and novelty presented by BIUST in the fight towards the COVID-19 pandemic. “We urge you to continue with such great innovation, which will not only assist Palapye but the Nation in developing solutions aimed at managing challenges.”
Lebang also honoured the retired Kgosi Masego Oelbile and Kgosi Michael Maforaga that she thanked for initiating the construction of the shelter.
The Member of Parliament for Palapye, Ramogapi, also saluted the international university for their benevolence input in the village. He said the institution had proven a good citizen that reciprocated the sacrifices of the community that accommodated it.
The community, he said, went as far as exhuming remains of their buried family members to make way for the institution.
“BIUST is proving this was not in vain. It has gone beyond their primary mandate of educating to assisting the communities, and Palapye have benefited massively. We are thankful to BIUST for these contributions,” Ramogapi said.
Since setting up in Palapye, BIUST has directly contributed several projects to the village. The Scientists, Engineers Without Borders BIUST (SWEBB) that aims at improving the lives of the less fortunate in and around Palapye undertook several initiatives to uplift communities.
In conjunction with the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, BIUST’s SEWBB connected a pipe from a 10 km borehole to the Dikabeya village for easy access of water and refurbishment of the clinic.
The university-trained 765 teachers in Introduction to Computers in the Palapye area and later extended the gesture to a few schools in the Kweneng District.
They also trained the Youth Development Fund (YDF) Beneficiaries and the Palapye Rovers Scouts in six-week courses of “Starting your business” and “Sustaining your business”.
For two consecutive years, BIUST co-sponsored the ICT Fair hosted in Palapye. In the research department, they have been monitoring land degradation in the Central District.
A three-tier land degradation index mapping funded by USAID at US$22,700.00 (BIUST US$18,100.00). The study was in partnership with the PAA. The study identified and quantified major land uses, examined the type, extent and intensity of land degradation in Palapye area, as well as the development of a Land Degradation Index and Map.
BIUST established a partnership with the House of Hope Trust that started beginning May 2015. House of Hope was selected as a beneficiary of donations and any other type of aid that could be realised from BIUST partnership with the Cincinnati University.
At the outbreak of COVID-19 recently, BIUST donated 4,500 liquid soaps and 2,000 bar soaps and sanitisers to the PAA and the District Health Management Team.
They also disinfected the bus rank and PAA offices using spray drones to assist in the fight against COVID-19.