Shebeen queen helps mothers with child welfare
The Ministry of Health (MoH) indicated that there had been a decline in routine immunisation coverage since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a bid to accelerate routine immunisation, UNICEF, MoH, Red Cross Botswana and USAID have ensured that they engage different stakeholders such as community volunteers and shebeen ladies to encourage mothers to take their children for child welfare care (CWC) including immunisation.
Moleti Obakeng, who hails from Letlhakeng but resides in Motokwe and has a shebeen in Itlhabanele ward in Motokwe, is one of those engaged. She said in November 2023, she was told by Red Cross volunteers that they were looking for mothers and guardians who did not take their children for CWC and immunisation.
Obakeng said she realised that most of her customers were young mothers who were regulars at her shebeen and also heard them teasing each other for not taking their children for checkups and immunisations.
“I got to know that the young women who did not take their children to the clinic for CWC. I took their contacts and every month I call them and remind them to take their children to the clinic for routine immunisation and checkups. If they refuse I report them at the clinic so that they pick them up and take them to the clinic. Some who did not have children’s cards were given some.”
“I also realised that some children stopped taking their immunisations when they were three months old. Since I am a mother, I know the importance of children getting vaccines because mine got them. I realised that if a child misses their immunisation doses they might later be prone to some diseases,” she said.
Obakeng added that she also observed that those young women do not register for antenatal care when pregnant. She said whenever she hears or realises that one of her clients is pregnant she encourages her to go to a health facility so that she can have a safe and healthy pregnancy.
She added that young women still delivered their babies at home because of carelessness and failure to seek health services. Obakeng added that she always seeks assistance from the volunteers to take such young mothers to the clinic.
According to one of the mothers, she cannot take her child to the clinic every month because her employer always blocks her from doing so whilst the same employer takes their children to the clinic for CWC and immunisation consistently without failure.
The young mother works at a farm outside Motokwe, which is also far from the clinic. She therefore pointed out that Obakeng always encourages them to take their children for CWC and immunisation saying ever since she had been faithfully complying.
This initiative of engaging shebeen queens comes after realising that many mothers and guardians here spend most of their time drinking alcohol at the shebeens. As a result, they fail to appropriately take care of their children and also ignore their health rights.
Red Cross Botswana community volunteer, Kelesitse Molale, said they were assigned to do a house-to-house campaign to establish why parents and guardians were not taking children aged below five years for routine CWC and immunisation. They realised that many young women spent most of their time at the shebeens where they drink alcohol. She added that they decided to engage Shebeen Queens to help them encourage their clients to take their children to the clinic for CWC since she spends most of the time with them.