Coming Together

Coming Together
Its been some time, I know but thought I would tell you all about the sponsored walk we did today with our youth group, Bright Future. As most of you know, Laura and I both spend a lot of our time working with this group and trying to develop them to be more productive, responsible, empowered individuals. We have been meeting for about 10 months and developing wonderful relationships with many of them. After all, they keep coming back so something is working!!!
Anyways, we had some t-shirts designed by a good friend and Peace Corps volunteer here, Ryan Mannion and then sent the logo to Jim Pike in Indy. Jim printed and donated all 35 shirts to our group and we brought them back from our trip home. Thanks Jim, means a lot and they are the hit of the village, everyone wants one. We told the group that the shirts were done and they needed to raise 300 pula for shipping (they didn’t know we brought them back), so we decided to do a sponsored walk on Youth Day in our district.
Three hundred pula should not be that hard for 25 people to come up with but the reality is that not one of these members have a job and a source for income other than boyfriends and an occasional family member. Most sit around day after day craving something to do, wishing they could find a job, and realizing the possibilities are very minimal with their educational background. While lack of motivation and laziness is inherited within the culture and greatly affects the youth often and early, I truly believe many of these kids (I call them kids but youth here is 15-29 years old) want to succeed in one way or another.
We met at the kgotla this morning and starting collecting sponsor sheets and money in hopes our goal of 300 pula was reached so that everyone could get their t-shirts. After collecting 660 pula the shirts, yeah we more than doubled the money, were handed out. It was awesome as each and every person made sure it looked nice and was the right size. After some decided it necessary to apply colored eye make-up, we had a photo-op and were off.
It really was a nice opportunity for them to show off to everyone that they are a part of something and trying to move forward. We strolled very leisurely through the village, singing and dancing at times while passerby’s looked on. Some asked what we were doing and the common response was “raising funds and awareness for our group and youth activities.” We walked for about and hour and a half, ending at the Kagisano Women’s Shelter, an organization that has taught our girls about gender based violence and currently is receiving a grant from the Ministry for our Youth group.
Yeah we wrote a grant through the Women’s Shelter many months back to the Ministry of Youth here. We got the entire grant, 1.2 million pula over two years to continue life skills trainings, going back to school, and learning business skills through a poultry farm. That is basically the equivalent of 150,000 US dollars. It is crazy; we have been operating this group with NO money and all the sudden the Ministry wants to use our group as a pilot project. GREAT – lets do this. We constantly see money thrown away here, but now we get to send 14 girls back to Form 4 and Form 5, basically high school, FOR FREE. Everything is paid, EVERYTHING. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to finish these all-important educational years. We will start the interview process very soon and select a final 14 to start in January. I wish the funding were for 18 so that everyone could go, as telling some they didn’t make the cut wont be easy.
I really can’t believe that is happening. I shouldn’t get too excited until I see them in their uniforms on the combi going that first day.
So from NO money, to a lot of money, we will be spending most of the time remaining in Botswana training new facilitators for life skills and continuing trying to empower this group. We have become very close to many of them and only hope that their futures will be brighter and filled with more opportunities.
Pike, thanks again for the shirts, I cant wait to see how many people come to the next meeting wondering if we have more. While the group is open to anyone, the shirts solidified Bright Future’s spot in the community, hopefully for years to come…………