HELP AT HAND
Masiela Trust in progressive strategy to save all children
Bonang Bana, a child-focused national strategy and brainchild of Masiela Trust Fund intends to shift childcare not only to orphaned and vulnerable children but to all children.
“All children are vulnerable, and therefore we believe that as Masiela Trust Fund, it would be right for us to extend our services to all children,” Executive Director of Masiela Trust Fund, Magogodi Dabutha told The Midweek sun. When it was established in 2001, Masiela Trust Fund was focused on advocacy for children’s rights and raising financial aid for orphans and vulnerable children, however, with the growing realisation that some children are not orphaned but in need of other interventions, the Bonang Bana national strategy was formulated.
“At the time, the country was experiencing high numbers of traffic accidents that claimed a lot of lives, as well as HIV/AIDS that left many children orphaned,” Dabutha said, adding that the programme also distributed food baskets and school uniforms to the affected children as a short term measure. Through Bonang Bana strategy, the Trust Fund is hoping to reach and positively impact the lives of more children across the country. Today, children are exposed to more challenges including poverty, sexual abuse, drug and substance abuse, child trafficking, missing children, and child neglect among others.
Dabutha said the new strategy will create new footprints and accelerate positive strides towards a Botswana fit for children in the 21st century. So far, the Trust Fund has assisted over 25 000 children with education, therapeutic services and life skills development programmes, as well as addressing the needs of vulnerable victims of human trafficking of which children are the most victimised.
The new strategy, according to Dabutha is based on three pillars. Firstly, every child’s right to citizenship. Masiela has been assisting children without birth certificates and Identity documents in settlements across the country. “Many children do not have birth certificates and ID cards, which presents challenges when they have to access government services or register for school,” Dabutha said. It is also under this pillar that they tackle issues relating to human trafficking, which has proven to have increased in recent times, with Botswana mostly used as a transit. In addition, through pillar two, Bonang Bana will promote education from early childhood to the tertiary level. So far, the Fund has facilitated the building of public daycare centres across the country, where orphaned children do not pay for services. “We also work with the Department of Social Protection to help tertiary students who have dropped out because they failed some of their modules. We pay for them so that they resume their studies without further disruptions,” she said. They have also assisted Botho University, the University of Botswana and Ba Isago University students from far-flung areas with accommodation. So far they have assisted over 200 tertiary students. In pillar three, Bonang Bana is concerned with Child Protection and advocates for children in different types of abuse situations. “We follow up different cases and work with all stakeholders including lawyers, social workers and police to ensure that perpetrators do not go scot-free,” Dabutha said. They are also involved in several cases of property grabbing, where children who lost their parents are displaced from their parents’ homes by relatives. “We work with lawyers to reinstate children back into their parents’ homes upon the death of their parents. In all our interventions, the best interest of the child is paramount,” Dabutha said. Bonang Bana strategy was scheduled to be launched in 2019, however, because of Covid-19, the launch was postponed. Masiela Trust Fund is hoping to raise between P150 000 and P200 000 in the coming gala dinner also scheduled for the launch on November 19. The Fund’s greatest impact was in 2010 when it received a cash injection of P4 million from the Olive Leaf programme and reached over 12 000 children across the country, with different services and interventions.