Let me begin by asking you a very simple question.
How far do you have to travel to get a glass of drinking water? I’m sure most of you will agree that you will not have to walk more than a few steps to get access to a glass of nice cold water.
I’m going to talk to you about a community living in a small village called Gamodubu in Botswana that has to walk 5 kilometers everyday to get access to clean drinking water.
Gamodubu is a small village 40kms from Gaborone. In Gamodubu there is a shelter hosting over a 100 orphaned children and women who are victims of gender-based violence. I came to know about this shelter through a family friend and when I first visited them, I realized how privileged I am and all the comforts that I have access to. In my small way I decided to help them. With the support of my friends and family I organized a health, hygiene and happiness workshop.
For the children to feel comfortable around me I started off the program by playing games. It was great to see how excited the kids were and the big smiles that lit up their faces.
After we played a couple of games I spoke to the kids about hygiene and personal care and I was surprised at their curiosity to know more and more about basic day to day routine. The girls especially had so many questions.
The women at the shelter make jewelry out of magazines and beads that are donated to them. They are then taken to the city and sold and all the money raised is taken back to the shelter. During my first interaction with the ladies there, they expressed a desire to make handbags and uniforms and to assist them with this I thought it would be a good idea to give them a sewing machine that would equip them to make these bags and uniforms.
All the money I had saved went towards the sewing machine, however this did not cover the cost of the sewing machine and I raised the remaining balance by selling cupcakes at our local farmers market. The cupcakes were donated by friends and well-wishers whom I had contacted through social media.
I spent a few moments speaking to the caretaker of the shelter, Miss Sherly who herself Is a victim of gender-based violence who narrated the events of her life and how she started the orphanage. She expressed her utmost gratefulness for the sewing machine and how it would make a significant difference in their ability to produce more profitable items for sale and make them self sustainable.
We ended the day by distributing food.
My story doesn’t end here and the next chapter is to further change their lives so they too only need to take a few steps to get clean drinking water.
This experience transformed me and showed that even a small change can bring about a significant difference in someone’s life.
I hope this inspired all my readers to give back to the society and even the smallest difference to us can make the biggest difference in someone else's life. I would love to know your thought and opinions. Feel free to talk to me on any of my social media platforms listed on my website. Also comment down below if you have any good social work projects that I could work on and involve my readers in.
Stay tuned till next time.
Asmita xx
Comments