02 Dec 2024

Wecho Trustee, Tsoseletso Magang has vowed to extend their partnership with North West District Council (NWDC) to make a positive impact on the children.

The trust and NWDC entered into a three-year partnership in 2021 aimed to develop an insight and behavioural change approach to sport and physical activity at Kareng Rural Area Dwellers  hostel, which accommodated children from settlements.

Through the partnership, the duo wanted to bring a positive impact on health, social and economic outcomes for the children through sports.

However, Magang briefed the media on Friday that they want continuation of the partnership as its achievements had been realised, noting that they also intend to introduce social and life skills sessions to help children develop a variety of skills that they could apply to navigate social interactions and become independent.

 She was impressed to learn that the initiative had re-energised and motivated the children to love their studies while at the same time playing sport.

In addition, she said they intend to introduce more sporting codes going forward, citing that this year, their focus would be basketball as it would expose children to more different sporting activities.

Initially, the trust main focus was judo but it expanded to other codes such as football, netball, volleyball, table tennis and athletics. 

“We believe there is so much the children can achieve from sports.  We are going to sign a new memorandum of understanding with the council very soon to extend our initiative and we also want to extend it to other hostels because we want children to benefit beyond competition and love school,” she added.

Magang further said that they had identified a lot of talent among the children through their annual sports festival held at Kareng, appreciating that the event had also attracted a lot of attention as some national players and sport administrators had shown interest to train and motivate the children.

A teacher from Kareng Primary School, Duncan Mokera attested that the partnership bore fruits and this has stimulated the love for sport among the children.

Some children, he said were not gifted academically but were excelling in sports. 

 “Our children used to abscond from the hostels at night and walk 30-40 kilometres to their settlements, but since the introduction of the sport activities, they stay in school and participate in different activities. This is an achievement,” he said.

Mokera further noted many were exposed to hunting and they utilised their free time to sneak and hunt but that had stopped as there was something to keep them busy in the hostels.

He appealed to the trust to consider training teachers in some sport codes so that they could help coach the children.

Earlier on, the acting NWDC council secretary, Kebalepile Horatius appreciated the partnership, saying it had made a huge difference in addressing issues of indiscipline in the hostel.

She said the hostel was marred with challenges of pupils absconding, as they lacked recreational activities, but since the introduction of sport activities and donation of equipment, they were always engaged.

Horatius also acknowledged that the project instilled the love of sport among the pupils at a young age, adding that sport also helped them to stay fit and healthy. Ends