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Botswana: Rising From the Ashes
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The Voice (Francistown)
20 May 2008
Posted to the web 20 May 2008
Chenjelani Baraedi
Francistown
The lives of an orphaned family whose house was gutted by fire a year ago, was changed forever when First National Bank (FNB) presented them with a house built through its staff volunteer programme.
Twenty-one-year-old Brenda Aleck and her seven siblings lost almost everything after their house in Matshelagabedi was destroyed by fire caused by a candle that had been left burning by the bedside. Still recovering from the death of their mother who passed away a year earlier, the Aleck family were in a desperate situation until FNB came to their help.
Thanking the bank for its humanitarian gesture, a family member, Polite Aleck, 19, said: "We had no idea how to pull ourselves out of our difficulties, but God sent FNB to our rescue and we are very thankful as a family."
In a moving speech she went on to say: "May God bless your bank so that you make more profits and help other people who find themselves in situations like ours."
She pointed out that FNB had defied the norm that there was nothing for free, saying that her family had never given the bank anything since they didn't even have a bank account.
The young woman also thanked villagers for their assistance: "You were always there for us, and gave us all the support anyone could need in a situation like ours," she said.
In response FNB's Resource Manager, Rev Masego Motswasele, said: "We heard about the tragic incident through the media and felt that we had a duty to do something for the orphaned family through our staff volunteer programme."
According to Motswasele, the programme was launched in 2001 to assist in alleviating poverty and uplifting the lives of the poor and underprivileged. He said under the programme, staff members identified and assisted projects of their choice to the tune of P50 000.
He said that after meeting community leaders they were given a go ahead to build the three roomed house. They also fenced the yard and installed water supply.
For her part, Goitse Sherwen, the bank's Francistown branch manager, told the gathering that FNB had singled out support for the disadvantaged and underprivileged as one of its five focus areas. She added that although the bank recognised the need for assistance in major centres, there was also an equally compelling need for their assistance in distant and peripheral communities like Matshelagabedi.
She revealed that last year the bank built a house for a homeless woman at Mandunyane, a village near Tonota, as part of the cornerstone of their goal of sharing social responsibility towards Vision 2016.
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"FNB has a rich and solid tradition of corporate social responsibility and social investment in Botswana through the bank's charitable foundations. Now in its sixth year, the foundation continues to be a significant private sector contributor to social investment in Botswana," she said.
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