21 Oct 2024

Orange Botswana has partnered with SOS Children’s Village in Tlokweng to launch a sports development initiative aimed at empowering children and providing them with essential life skills through sports.

Speaking at the launch, Orange Botswana acting director of Legal and corporate affairs, Mr Patrick Yane announced that the P150 000 raised from the charity challenge would be used to improve sports facilities, purchase essential equipment and provide professional coaching for the children of SOS Children’s Village.

“This is not just about sports, it’s about creating opportunities for children to grow, to develop confidence, and to feel part of something bigger. We want every child to experience the transformative power of sports and we believe that this initiative will play a critical role in nurturing talent and promoting a sense of belonging,” said Mr Yane.

He said the funds would empower the children to explore and practice a sport of their choice, helping to improve their overall quality of life.

In addition, Mr Yane said a special day celebrating sport would be organised for the entire SOS Children’s Village community creating an opportunity for children and residents to experience the joy of play, teamwork and competition.

“This is only the beginning. Our initial day of volunteering will pave the way for a larger ‘Orange Day’ sports event, which will take place after three months of training fully sponsored by Orange Botswana,” he added.

Mr Yane highlighted that sports provided young people with essential life skills including discipline, perseverance and leadership.

He said sport was a powerful tool for life transformation for children especially those growing up in challenging circumstances as it could offer an outlet for creativity, a sense of purpose and a path to a brighter future.

He said the partnership with SOS Children’s Village was just one of the many ways that Orange Botswana was demonstrating its commitment to sports development across the country.

“The company has been a proud supporter of various sporting events and athletes including Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo and the national Olympics team. 

It has also been a major sponsor of the Phikwe Marathon, bringing together thousands of athletes to promote a culture of health and fitness as well as the Orange FA Cup which continues to inspire passion for football across Botswana,” said Mr Yane.

For his part SOS Children’s village national director Mr Motshwari Kitso said they had been appealing to various corporate companies to support their course and Orange Botswana came in handy.

Mr Kitso said since Botswana was classified as an upper middle income country international support was slowing down and their organisation was expected to be self-sustaining.

“We concentrate on lobbying corporate companies for support especially long term partnerships and not just once off donations. We have been appealing to companies for sports development and fortunately Orange heeded our call,” he said.

Mr Kitso said Orange had pledged that beyond the funds they would engage professional coaches to train children in various sporting codes. ENDs