… the activity brought Lesego Chombo’s own rustic roots to the fore
Reigning Miss Botswana, Lesego Chombo, is well on her way to leaving a lasting impact that will go beyond her reign.
Just last week the beauty queen spent a few days with the community of Maothate settlement, which lies 18km from the Thebephatshwa army base in the Kweneng District.
Chombo played and interacted with children at Maothate Learning Centre and showcased her own rustic roots by cooking and stirring pots over an open fire with the elders of the community.
Three meals a luxury
“Maothate is defined by rife unemployment and underresourced families where to have three meals a day is considered a luxury,” says Miss Botswana PR and Communications Officer, Tshepiso Solomon.
The Maothate Learning Centre was first established to aid adults by teaching them how to read and write in order to better their quality of life. The centre was later extended to a learning facility for children to mitigate the root cause of the poverty that has stuck to the village.
Maothate Learning Centre envisions a community that will one day be removed from the firm grip of generational poverty.
Solomon said the Maothate settlement resonates with the true purpose of Chombo’s Beauty With a Purpose project that is aimed at shaping the lives of children from underprivileged communities by educating them about opportunities that are potentially available to them.
The Genesis Project
She added that the problem is better solved when the root cause is treated, saying that is what Miss Botswana’s project is here to do.
Styled the Genesis Project, the endeavour aims to create a conducive environment for development of economically disadvantaged children through a programme that equips their parents with the skills and behavioral attributes necessary for promoting their children’s emotional, social and cognitive well-being.
Ultimately, this project aims to bridge the gap between the environment that children in rural and poverty-stricken homes grow up in versus those in economically stable homes.
Sustainable
The programme is co-facilitated by stakeholders such as psychologists, teachers, pediatricians and social welfare professionals whose role is to impart accurate and sustainable knowledge on these parents.
“As part of my project, I have also hosted developmental outings for economically disadvantaged children in Maun comprising specialist medical checks, educational activities, and introduction to artistry the goal of which was to expose the children to a conducive environment and shape their perspectives,” Chombo said.