The wheels of the bus go round and round…
The wheels of the bus go round and round. Round and round. Round and round. Do you remember that childhood song? It’s one of those little tunes that seem to get into your head and go round and round in a loop.
The reason for the song buzzing around every one’s heads in the 10FOR50 Team though, is because we are incredibly excited about our most significant donation ever!
A Community Bus!
That’s right; SD and TFI (though utilisation of SD derived bed night funding and our 10FOR50 contribution) have purchased a Community Bus.
A common thread out of our recently held presentations from NGO’s, and consultation with stakeholders, was the lack of reliable scheduled, free transport in Maun. Our bus is going to fill that void by solving the transportation challenges faced by Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC’s) and the Elderly.
Jointly managed by SD and TFI the bus will perform scheduled morning runs delivering nutritious meals daily to Elderly Members of our community, as well as providing them with transport to collect pensions, medical necessities etc. In the afternoons the bus will collect OVC’s from their schools and transport them to Bana Ba Letsatsi and then back to their homes in the evenings.
We are so happy to be able to provide this service, which will provide mobility and independence to both the Future of our country by assisting our children as well as to the History of our country by assisting the Elderly.
Dittmar & Tlotlo welcoming the new bus
This donation would not have been possible without the hard work, kindness and generosity of our Agents supporting the TFI Bed night Donation. A massive Thank You for your continued support!
Watch this space as we transform a bland 16 seater Mini-Bus into an awesome people moving, community supporting, Super Bus!
One last time…the wheels of the bus go round and round. Round and… (okay we’ll shut up now)!
Posted by
Caroline Mokaba
Giving Back for our ’10 for 50′ Campaign
Mid August. This is the time of year when the winds come howling though town, filling the air with dust whipped off the Makgadikgadi Pans 100km away. It’s also when intrepid SD staff members Storm and Karen trek across the Pans as Maun Moonwalkers to raise funds for breast cancer awareness. While they’ve been out training, we’ve been sensibly hunkered away out of the weather, busy on several fronts…
In light of the significant funding raised for TFI along with our 10FOR50 commitment of 500 man hours and a whopping P100,000.00 donation – we saw fit to arrange a series of presentations from TFI supported organisations, to hear from them how best to distribute funds.
In partnership with TFI, a representative panel was formed and presentations were requested from AGLOW; committed to caring for the Elderly, WAR; an Organisation providing counselling and refuge for victims of Gender Based Violence, Banna Ba Letsatsi; providing care and education for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children, MAWS; providing veterinary sterilisation and care to domestic animals and The Bush Ways Foundation, operating several social responsibility programmes in the Khwai Area.
The NGO’s were invited to pitch for core ongoing funding and once off donations comprising both time spend and financial requests. Unfortunately our panel proved to be so enthusiastic in the Q&A sessions that all of the allocated times over ran. This resulted in a traffic jam of sorts in our reception area! Our sincere apologies again for the delays, however it was great to see the panels interest and eagerness to understand the NGO’s requirements. As we plan on holding these assessments annually, we’ll ensure that we allocate longer time slots next time!
Following on the presentations, we also visited the sites of the Maun based NGO’s to gain a better understanding of their set up and daily operations. These sessions have been very useful in enabling TFI to strategise and streamline their core-funding as well as allowing us to identify crucial areas which will benefit from our 10FOR50 commitments.
Calculators have been rattled, pencils sharpened, hair pulled and now the results are in. Starting October 01 and continuing for a year, the following organisations will receive ongoing funding from TFI for their requested projects:
Banna Ba Letsatsi will receive funding to employ a full time, qualified councillor to head up their psychosocial unit along with contributions to food and fuel. WAR will receive funding to support their shelter matron – a key member of their staff
AGLOW will receive funding for the continued support of their current assistant as well as funding for two new assistants, food and fuel.
MAWS will continue to receive funding for the support of their two clinic volunteers.
Bush Ways Foundation will continue to receive support for their Trauma Care Counselling Courses.
For our 10FOR50 Hour Pledges, we are including the following projects to get involved with:
WAR Reception: We are renovating the reception area at WAR over this coming weekend. We have solicited donations of material from the public and over and above this we will be donating the paint and painting material as well as the labour! Watch our FB page for pics and more info!
WAR Woman’s Economic Empowerment Project: We are putting together a team to build a sustainable start up enterprise to provide employment for women who are assisted by WAR. The intention is for these ladies to be employed and financially empowered to assist them in breaking free from the cycle of violence they find themselves in. This will be a long term project by SD and it is envisaged that it will encompass all areas of our operations. It’s a big task but one we are looking forward to!
Banna Ba Letsatsi Fun day: We are in the process of scheduling a fun day for SD staff to throw a party for the kids at BBL. We’re planning a day full of fun and games – what all kids have a right to enjoy.
AGLOW Visits: We’re in the process of scheduling visits to the Elderly around Maun. Sometimes the most important gift we can give is time. The idea is for volunteers to visit isolated elderly members of our community for companionship visits and assistance with household chores.
MAWS Halloween: Every year MAWS puts on a fantastic Halloween fundraiser. They desperately need volunteers to help out – SD will be there to assist!
Helping far and wide, our Blanket and Jersey Bundles were distributed as far as Ghanzi!
We had a great response to our Winter Bundle Donations earlier this month. SD staff was invited to collect a blanket and warm jersey to deliver to whoever they felt needed it. It was fantastic to hear back from staff about their donations and wonderful to be able to effect random acts of kindness. Check out FB page to read some of the personal stories.
Last but not least, getting back to those brave (crazy?) Moonwalkers… as this is posted The Maun Moon Walkers will have finished off their epic 56km/90km treks across the Makgadikgadi Pans to raise funds for breast cancer awareness. Congratulations to all the participants, especially our SD ladies Storm and Karen!!
Posted by
Caroline Mokaba