22 May 2014

Where do street children go in winter?

They crouch in old unfinished buildings, verandahs of shops and stoops of malls.

They have nothing but tattered clothes peeping of holes and cardboards to cover their small bodies, to survive yet another day in the scotching winter cold.

To many the streets have become their homes and they are fondly called ‘Bo Bashi’.

Very little if none do not seems to care about their welfare, or what they eat and from where and where they will spend the night and their safety.

The day a modest nurse tracked down the streets of African Mall changed their lives for the better.

Ms Direpang Segosebe is a compassionate woman who has dedicated most of her life helping the needy, vulnerable children and the elderly.

She narrated how one day she was scrolling the mall and saw an unpleasant sight of street children scraping of leftover in rubbish bins and laments the pain she felt as a Motswana, a mother and a nurse by profession.

Ms Segosebe identified a problem she saw as one of the rising social ills in Botswana of street children and took immediate action.

To her, these vulnerable children and adults’ are not criminals who go around sniff glue in empty milk cartons, staring at passers-by with glassy eyes, waiting to rob them.

“These are our children in the society and they are not thieves as many make a living by washing cars and carrying grocery bags for the public, so I treat them like my children and they call me Mmarona which means our mother”, she says during an interview with BOPA.

She has provided food for these children on Christmas day lunch in 2012, adding to a list of medical checkups and testing for different diseases and infections.

She added that, “I have more than 10 street children who I have tested and diagnosed and some are undergoing treatment as we speak”.

As a health practioner, she stressed that her vision is for a better life for all and a healthy nation, and they do not have access to proper health facilities.


In addition the merciful nurse has called the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Sport Youth and Culture, to embark on workshops for them to engage in poverty eradication programs so as they too could benefit from these programs.

Also she approached the Department of Civil and National Registration to register these children.

The director at the Department of Civil and National Registration, Ms Neo Lepang also alluded to the fact that when Ms Segosebe approached them with her initiative to help the children, it was in accordance to their mandate to ensure that every Motswana has a fundamental right to be registered under the Department of Births and Deaths.

She mentioned that Omang or National Identity Card is a very important document that every person should possess in this country, to ensure that they are the gateway to many benefits and resources, health included.

Ms Lepang added that, for the past five years, they have been around cities, towns and villages to register people.

Orphans, people in remote areas, vulnerable children have been left behind and people like Ms Segosebe are a blessing to help them achieve this.To date, Ms Lepang mentioned that they have managed to register 2 children in Gaborone, 12 in the Naga Mpha Batho settlement in Jwaneng and they are still on the process of registering more children. She has expressed gratitude to people like Ms Segosebe for helping and assisting these children to attaining their National Identity Cards to a better life.

Further, a shy and modest Mr Kelebonye Tlhalerwa, 27, said that he came to the streets 15 years ago, forced by abject poverty at home.

He added that to survive in this brutal world he washes and looks after cars that are packed in malls.

He also lamented that being on the streets is like a curse because they are often discriminated against and labeled names like ‘Bo Bashi or magodu’ which means thieves. 


“Ever since Mmarona adopted us, she has been taking care of us, health wise and also buys toiletries for us,” he says. 


He stated that because of the woman their health has improved and one day he wishes to own a business and embark in commercial farming that will alleviate him from poverty.

Mr Tlhalerwa appealed to the government and people not to turn a blind eye, and to provide them with funds so as they too can work hard and earn a living.


Ms Segosebe is a true epitome of an honorable woman who lives a purposeful live and adheres to the vision 2016 pillar of a Just, Compassionate and Caring nation. ENDS