Malebogo Ratladi
Belle Larissa, an etiquette training organization recently partnered with the European Union (EU) extending their training through the ‘I am enough programme’ to cater for children who could not afford the programme.
The campaign which started last year is mandated at enhancing character building, social skills and promoting emotional growth. In an interview with this publication, the Managing Director(MD) of Belle Larissa Malebogo Marumoagae said the partnership with EU came at a time where children all over the world over are faced with the need to develop resilience and perseverance during the covid-19 pandemic. She said since the inception of the programme last year, to date they trained more than 250 children between the ages of 6 and 18.
“The aim is to train 1000 children by the end of 2022.” She added, “due to the cost of running such a program, we have been charging a fee to cover them.” Marumoagae said this has resulted in leaving out children who need this program but whose parents and guardians cannot afford to pay the fees, adding that the funding from EU will ensure that these children also get an opportunity to be trained on this very important course.
Marumoagae said her organisation takes participants through important life skills training including; respect, responsibility, resilience, perseverance, dealing with stress and anxiety. She said the programme is designed to teach children to identify and embrace their strengths and uniqueness. Marumoagae said since August 2020 when they started with these workshops, they have successfully trained children from Gaborone, Mahalapye, Palapye and Francistown. She said, “ the plan is to leave a foot print in almost all villages across the country, I want to reach children from rural places because our program guides children to move away from self-doubt and self-criticism associated with low self-esteem.” Marumoagae said children from remote areas are often victims of self-doubt when they relocate to the city for tertiary education.
She appreciated the endorsement by EU as said it is a huge investment towards Botswana future generation. For the past 2 weekends they have been training children from Mochudi and the next stop is Gamodubu and Mogonye.