Rugby Donates Blood On Women’s Day Commemoration

The Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) kicked off the International Women’s Day celebrations by embarking on a blood donation campaign. Led by the local women rugby teams, the BRU invited the public to donate blood in an event held at the Botswana National Blood Transfusion Services offices in Gaborone on Saturday.

Speaking to Monitor Sport, BRU Women’s Sub Committee public relations officer, Fatima el Kindy said the women in rugby saw the need to give back to the community ahead of the women’s day celebrations today (March, 8).

“So we are donating with the rugby players, this is to commemorate women’s international day on March 8. We are giving back to the community as women in rugby to donate blood, just show that not all super heroes wear capes. We are targeting around 70 people from all the nine clubs within the BRU. We are hoping we can reach up to 100, but the target is to have 70 people coming through,” she said. El Kindy further said the women rugby will be taking part in other health related initiatives as they make most of their time off the field following the recent suspension of sports activities. “We are going to commemorate cancer awareness and HIV/AIDS amongst others. Because we are not playing we are going to make most of our time holding workshops to improve the women rugby, to equip the players.

We are going to look at opportunities of hosting referee courses and first aid courses, just to give back to community and to grow women rugby.” Meanwhile, el Kindy bemoaned lack of active competitive play and said it was a drawback to the women’s rugby development.

“We are not able to grow the game by actually playing, demonstrating the skills, so we are lagging behind on how to play and participate. But we are keeping a positive mind,” she cried, though looking ahead positively.