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News > Footprints > Green Tribe clients lend support to Bana Ba Letsatsi
Green Tribe clients lend support to Bana Ba Letsatsi
- Community Development
Green Route recently hosted an incentive trip to the Okavango Delta in Botswana for 52 sales managers from a leading pharmaceutical company. The company expressed a strong interest in becoming involved with a community project during their journey, so our Green Tribe Community Development division sprang into action to source suitable projects.
Despite a stable economy, Botswana has one of the highest HIV infection rates in Africa. The resulting social problems have the largest impact on children, and projections indicate that by 2010, there could be as many as 200,000 orphans in the country.
It was appropriate then that our client selected a project called Bana Ba Letsatsi, which supports child welfare in Maun, the 5th largest town in Botswana. Maun is the tourist capital and administrative centre of the country as well as the gateway to the Okavango Delta.
Bana Ba Letsatsi (BBL) means “Sunshine Children” and was established in 2002 in response to the growing number of street children in the town. These children are exposed to substance abuse, hunger and neglect as well as other hardships. The aims of the project are to keep these children off the streets and enable them to re-enter society and become productive members of the community. BBL are successfully achieving these goals by providing food, shelter, education, skills development and counselling to over 230 children and youths between the ages of 2 and 18 years, as well as developing and improving family support structures for these children.
Facilitated by Green Route, the younger children of BBL drew pictures for the group which were presented to the guests upon arrival at the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango. We planned for the group to visit BBL on their last day in Botswana. In preparation for this visit, posters were put up in the lodges with information about the project.
On departure day, the Maun Animal Foundation kindly donated a bus to transport the guests to BBL. Fiona Miller, the Manager of BBL, was there to meet and brief the group. Guests were then invited to meet the children and get involved with their day – this included drawing, colouring in and practising the Marimba for an upcoming festival in Maun. Then it was playtime and everyone gathered in the garden, creating a big circle and holding hands. The children taught the guests various popular games and in return, each group member introduced themselves and explained which part of the world they were from.
Apart from donating their time, the group also contributed a donation to assist BBL with future endeavours. Julia Jackson, the Green Route group leader, commented that “the day’s interaction was enjoyed immensely by both the children and the guests. The trip ended on such a high note as a result!” The group departed homewards with an overwhelming feeling of having helped to make a difference in the lives of children who are in desperate need of this support.
