Patricia Maganu
15 October 2007
Assistant Minister for Education, Moggie Mbaakanyi praised the company last week saying she was impressed by the way it was working with residents of Matshelagabedi and Matsiloje. She was speaking at a ceremony to hand over a day care centre refurbished by the company to the Matshelagabedi residents. The upgrade cost about P110,000.
Besides the renovation, the company has donated P20,000 to Matshelagabedi Primary School, which has been used to buy computers. At the moment, it is working with farmers and an agricultural demonstrator to set up gardens for residents of Matshelagabedi. Speaking at the day care hand over ceremony, Tati Nickel corporate and social responsibility manager, Eric Illemann said they refurbished the centre in response to a request by the Village Development Committee (VDC).
"We set aside P300,000 for the upgrade of the school," he said. Illemann said that the project started sometime last year and the mine has been working with the community ever since to complete the works.
Besides developing the infrastructure, Tati Nickel bought facilities for the school like television sets, computers, a mini-park among others. The upgraded school has a new ablution block and a fully furnished kitchen.
"Besides upgrading the school, we decided to use local people for all the services we needed on the site. We hired a local young artist who did the murals on the walls and a local man who put in the burglars. The list goes on. We have really tried to engage local suppliers and service providers," said Illemann. He added that they are going to keep on helping the day care centre.
"We have decided to train the teachers so they can be more effective," he said. Illemann said that the centre has a capacity of 75 pupils but right now there are about 25. "I urge the community to send their children to school here and not to Francistown," he said.
VDC chairperson, Elizabeth Molete related how the school started. "It was built by VDC and drought relief and in 2004 it was opened with seven children, three teachers, three assistants and it was run by VDC. We struggled because we had no resources," she said.
Molete added that they were forced to retrench some of the teachers before the North East District Council (NEDC) stepped in.
"We went up to 38 children and we were motivated. They graduated into primary school and others enrolled but we were still struggling with equipment and that is when we approached Tati Nickel for help and here we are," she said. She is happy that they now have computers, new equipment, books and more importantly a water tank, as Matshelagabedi has always had a water problem. She encouraged parents to enroll their children in the school.
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