MY NAME IS PAULA. I WAS BORN IN AUSTRALIA. I HAVE BEEN A VOLUNTEER IN BOTSWANA, AFRICA FOR 14 YEARS. WE FEED, CARE FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN, PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, HIV & AIDS, ELDERLY AND DISADVANTAGED PERSONS WITH DAILY ESSENTIALS AND LOTS OF LOVE AND INTRODUCE THEM TO JESUS. WE ALLOW THEM TO JOIN IN WORKSHOPS, HEALTH EDUCATION, HIV AND DISEASE PREVENTION, EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. WE TAKE PEOPLE FROM THE VILLAGE WHO WOULD FIND IT VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND EMPLOYMENT AND TEACH THEM SKILLS TO WORK IN OUR PROGRAMS. WE HAVE A KITCHEN/ FEEDING PROGRAMME, KINDERGARTEN, GARDEN PROJECT, SEWING CENTRE AND CARPENTRY PROJECT. I HAD A DREAM AT THE AGE OF 14 TO GO AND ASSIST THE DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE IN A THIRD-WORLD COUNTRY IN AFRICA AND MY DREAM CAME TRUE WHEN I WAS 34. OUR PROGRAMS HAVE HELPED OVER 4000 PEOPLE AND NOW REACH 17 VILLAGES. MAGGIE SETLHARE IS THE PROJECT MANAGER AND LIVES IN BOTSWANA FULL-TIME OVERSEEING THE DAILY RUNNINGS OF THE PROJECT WITH 10 VOLUNTEERS. THESE VOLUNTEERS ARE DISADVANTAGED AND DISABLED OR HAVE HIV & AIDS BUT WE DO NOT DISCRIMINATE BUT GIVE EVERYBODY THE OPPORTUNITY THEY DESERVE. WE HAD 21 VOLUNTEERS BUT HAD TO SEND BACK 11 AS WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO KEEP THEM GOING. EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE VOLUNTEERS WE MUST PAY THEM. A STIPEND ACCORDING TO BOTSWANA LAWS AND FOR THE REASON THAT THEY CAN NOT FARM. IF THEY CAN NOT FARM THEY CAN NOT FEED THEMSELVES SO WE MUST GIVE THEM A STIPEND TO BE ABLE TO MEET THEIR DAILY NEEDS ALSO. OUR WONDERFUL FRIEND OF ADORE JANET LOU-HING FROM CANADA WAS A DEDICATED FUNDRAISER FOR THE VOLUNTEERS, HOWEVER, TWO YEARS AGO CANCER TOOK HER LIFE. ADORE HAS STRUGGLED TO PAY STIPENDS OF $50-$75 PER MONTH TO EACH ONE. I DECIDED EACH YEAR I WILL DO A CHRISTMAS IN JULY FUNDRAISER TO MEET HOPEFULLY SIX MONTHS OF PAYMENTS. IT'S MY PART TO PLAY NOW THAT I LIVE IN AUSTRALIA FULL-TIME WITH MY HUSBAND. YOU ARE WELCOME TO READ THE STORIES OF OUR VOLUNTEERS. ADORE LITTLE CHILDREN BOTSWANA STAFF PROFILES 2024 NAME: Xevekxe Tsheko, DOB 1/1/1968. GENDER Female AGE 55 Years I did Grade 7 and did not progress with school because I got a C minus which was a fail. I then stayed at home and joined parents with farming and met man who gave me 2 children then later died, I got another man he also died after 2 children. I had boy and his father died, so I gave up on me. I now have 5 children AND 8 grandchildren. The men gave me HIV and I rake medication daily to live. I have to eat well so that the medication does not default, that is why Adore Little Children hired me. I have 4 other siblings, 3 died of HIV I have one sibling left. I lost my eye from birth. I was sick and my eye got infected. One of my grand daughters has an eye problem also. The eyes swelled and then got better. Then later swelling happened and she lost an eye also. This means she can not get work because people don’t like to hire peoples with a disability but ADORE cares for people with a disability.I was hired by Adore in September 2019 in the Vegetable Garden Program and very grateful for a job because I can feed my family. Working for ADORE helps me pay fees for my child at secondary school. Proud of my daughter doing Grade 12. I help take care and feed all my grandchildren. My other children finished only Grade 9 and failed and are unemployed. One son has mental illness and stabbed a policeman. He was then institutionalised. NAME: Tango Xanoko DOB: 01.01.1965 GENDER Female AGE 58 years My mother died when i was a baby and my father is still living. I have 4 children. All of them unemployed because they failed school. One son is ok. Another son has a mental disability. It started when he was older. One day I found him foaming at the mouth. I took him to traditional doctors. (known in the western world as witchdoctors) He became worse until I took him to the clinic and he was diagnosed with mental disability. He takes treatment and is doing well. Then i have daughter she has 2 children and my oldest son has 4 children, giving me six grandchildren. I never went to school. I don’t know why parents didn’t take me to school. I grew up farming and then I met man who gave me the 4 children. We then moved to Maun and he was in the army. One day he told me to go to bed. I refused and he told me I am being stubborn. I finally went to sleep and now knowing he had plan to kill himself. He hung himself in yard. I woke up and found him dead and called people. We called his family and they refused to come. We had not fought or anything. His family finally came and we buried him. Started working at Adore Little Children 2019 - Adore is really helping me. I have even built myself a place to stay - I am very happy working at Adore. I have a son at primary school doing Standard 6 and I am able to buy uniform. NAME: Bsweafeditswe Mateo DOB: 10/07/87 GENDER Female. AGE 36 years I went to school and did well in my exams and finished Grade 12. I started working at Adore Little Children in 2018 in the Sewing Centre. My children are 2 boys (Grade 3 and 6) and 3 girls - Oldest is at Tertiary (TAFE) studying Technology, and next is in Grade 11 and my youngest, is in Grade 8 and is a top athlete distance running and represents her school in other districts. I was trained through a poverty eradication program as a fashion designer. I was unable to gain employment. I don’t know what I would have done if Adore hadn[t hired me. I have so many benefits from working at Adore, I can feed my children and pay school fees. Their father left me in 2012 then i continued bringing my children and my orphaned niece up on my own. My neice recently died of HIV at 22. I have to budget a lot and its not easy. ADORE pays me P600 per month (approx $75), that is with two pay rises. ADORE helps with extra food and clothing for my children. They allow me to make dresses for myself at the sewing centre. NAME: Obonetse Nyangane DOB: 21/06/79 GENDER: Female. AGE 44 years I did not finish high school. I had to stop in Grade 9 because my mum became sick and needed a carer. I already had 4 siblings that I had to take care of. My mum later died in 1996. My father left my mum when she was sick. He stayed away until my mother died. He was not even there at her funeral. He is still alive. After leaving us he went to his other wife and has children with her. When I got married he was there. We sometimes visit him. After my mothers death I was about 16 years and I went to report to social worker and government assisted us with food and clothing. Afterwards i started looking to myself. I had my first child when I was 20 and i now hav 5 children and 1 grandchild. My 3 eldest boys are not in school because they failed. They try to get odd jobs. I joined Adore Little Children in 2014 as a kitchen hand. Adore has done a lot for me. I have built my own place with bricks. As I was getting paid I saved my money and finally I connected electricity at my house. I have a fridge and my children watch TV. i give thanks to ADORE. I pay school fees for my children and I buy them uniforms and casual clothes. In Feb 2017 Adore took me to Gaborone to study and learn dress making. I got a certificate and I am working in the ADORE Sewing Centre and have grown in dress making. ADORE has made me grow spiritually, now I even do fasting and pray a lot because I didn’t understand before. Now i can spend time reading Bible. Before situations used to overwhelm me, but now i surrender all to prayer. I give thanks to ADORE for growing me. I was able to marry the father of my children. I am now 48 and have been with my husband since I was 16. He has another family to. But I am his wife and first family whom he lives with. NAME: Pheletso Secrete DOB 4/8/1996. GENDER Female AGE 27 years I finished Grade 12. I was good at my schoolwork but I couldn’t get employment. I I had a baby girl when I was 22. She is in the ADORE Kindy Program.. I have 7 siblings, 3 men and 4 women. 1 died of HIV & Aids. I am No. 7 born and both parents are still living. I was hired by Adore in 2017 as a Teacher because I spoke English and Setswana (the national language) In my village we speak out native language but at school they learn in English and Setswana so at ADORE from the age of 2 we teach them the education and business language of our country Botswana. I was taught computers which I like. I also wish to go do training in Early Childhood and also in computers. Spiritually I have grown so much. I never knew how to pray. Now I find myself telling others about the goodness of the Lord and they want my Lord. I have really grown and have no fear standing in front of people to share. Adore has made me a supervisor and head of school. This is an area that has helped me to be humble, speak to others with love so that they work well. I am a team builder. I miss MamaPaula and Mr. Greg and miss their Bible teachings. ADORE helps me. NAME: Ben Tuelo DOB: 19/12/91 GENDER: Ma AGE 32 years I only completed Grade 10 and didn’t pass. I started tdrugs at a very young age. I have two daughters. I wanted them to be educated so I got interested in ADORE Little Children when the first one was ready to join Kindy Program. First they helped me with rehabilitation so that I do not hurt my body anymore with drugs. They offered me a job in the Garden in 2019 and I gre be a Supervisor. ADORE has taught me a lot. Right love the Bible, I never understood the Bible. Now Mr. Greg course has opened my eyes I am able to relate. I work well with others, I love team work. Adore allowance helps me pay school fees for my daughter doing Grade 3. It also help with clothes and food even for myself. I have so many new skills because of ADORE. I can MC meeting very well, take notes, organise meetings, media, carpentry, building just to name a few. I am fully equipped to go and find employment. I have done this a few times. As ADORE encourage us to further ourselves. I have beeN to many workshops held by ADORE and I have been sent away to learn in other areas of the country. I am a good interpreter for MamaPaula because I speak all languages very well. NAME: David Lebopo DOB; 4/10/97. GENDER Male. AGE 26 years I was born with challenges from birth with no limbs from my knees down on both legs. I used to walk on my knees. My mum had to take care of me and hide me because my relatives believed I was evil. They asked how she would manage this thing that isn’t human and told her I should be buried alive. David mum decided to keep her thing which was me, her baby who my mum could not leave or get rid of. She had special people who shared looking after me and kept me from the real evil doers who wanted to sacrifice me. ADORE Little Children met me when I was 15 and helped me with clothing and educational needs and communication with the social workers and Disability Office. They helped me to get the care I needed. I received prothesis limbs in 2013 and had extensive rehabilitation on how to walk using two walking sticks. Then I have progressed with those limbs. I only need one walking stick now and I can walk far. After Grade 10 I was sent for a Horticulture course. ADORE hired me for the garden in 2017. I was able to transfer all my knowledge which I gain 100% on my exams to the other team members and the community in workshops. ADORE gave me this opportunity. I don’t know where I could have gained employment. ADORE has grown me. I could never stand in front of people. Now I have confidence and am no longer shy. I started realisng that I am also human and can associate with other people. Before I was confined to family. Adore has grown me spiritually, going to church Sundays and daily at ADORE. The allowance I get helps me a lot. I am even helping family. even my own clothes. Now I plan to build my own place with bricks instead of living in a mud hut. I am able to help someone needy because God has blessed me. Name: Njangu Sekuro DOB: 10.05.1970 GENDER Female AGE 53yrs My name is Njangu. Up until I was 5 I could walk. I used to run fast and climb trees. One day I fell backwards and I was never able to walk again. My legs just went to sleep. They were permanently bent under my body and in time I had only soft cartridge in my legs from the knees down. I learned to shuffle to get around. I didn’t go to school. A man wanted to marry me and I asked him why because I am crippled and can’t walk and he said because I can’t go anywhere. So I married him. We had eight children. One was disabled and died when he was eight years of age. My husband worked collecting steel and making triangles to put pots on for the fire. He collected reeds for me and I made baskets. I was talented with my hands. My husband had HIV & Aids and contracted Tuberculous. He was deaf and it became hard for us to communicate so he became angry and we would fight a lot. He belonged to a cult and I had to take place in the ancestral worship, and sacrificial ceremonies. He died after 15 years of marriage. I was very depressed and didn’t want to live anymore. My youngest was four and attending ADORE Little Children. ADORE was already helping us with breakfast each morning, but when my husband died they stepped in to help me everyday, clean my yard and house, collect me water and bring us food and clothing. They also brought me a bible and taught me about Jesus. Sometimes we would have a service in my yard so I could be included. I managed to do a lot of things from the ground like washing clothes in a tub. ADORE would help by setting things up for me. They also hired someone to collect reeds so I could continue making my baskets. They helped me to start selling them to retailers so I could have a monthly income. I did not leave my home for 20 years, but one day ADORE took me in their vehicle to the Centre of my village. It was very exciting, next they took me to Events that would happen at ADORE and then they took me across the river which I had never been to town and to where my eldest daughter was at school doing Grade 11 and boarding. I saw my daughter and met her teachers and it was the best day of my life. ADORE connected me with social workers and pushed for my children to go on the Orphan Care List and be provided School Uniforms and Shoes so the could attend school. ADORE has given me life . They introduced me to God and now I understand I have a purpose for living. NAME: Reginah Chaili DOB: 25.12.1980 GENDER Female. AGE 43Years I grew up in South Africa in a house with my mother, father and siblings. I went to school and got an education. When I finished school I met a man and I had two sons. The man left us. Later I met a man who was working in the mines. He was an educated man with a good job and provided well for us. We married. He was on a work visa from Botswana. We lived happily in our house in South Africa. Soon though things began to change because he got a back injury from working. After time his visa ran out and he had to go back to his country. According to our culture the wife I must follow the husband. I had never left my country or my family before. We travelled for days. I thought we must have gone far beyond Botswana. We passed the main City and many villages and towns and came to a desert type place that had sand and huts made from mud and straw. This is where my husband had come from. He built us one concrete room and we all lived in the one room with no electricity and no running water. I was in shock and so were my two sons. I didn’t understand the language at all and I had knew family. Families did not seem very friendly and they did not always act as though they were family. Adults ate before children and women did all the work, like going to the dangerous river swamped by elephants, crocodiles and hippopotamuses. I was very scared. We moved to our own place and my husband became very protective. He didn’t allow me to contact my family or leave the yard for five years. He became a different man from the man I knew in South Africa. He became very abusive to my two eldest sons forcing them to go barefoot into the rough fields to find the cows and bring them back to the crawl. If the did not bring them back in time, he would whip them with tree twigs and leave marks on their backs. I feared for our lives daily as one of his brothers wanted to kill us. We had a son and when he turned 5 because my husband loved my son he allowed me to take him to ADORE Little Children for education. I began to volunteer doing the dishes in the kitchen and help feed the children. I stayed there during the day because it took me one and a half hours to walk to ADORE. Since that time, I have had one more son and a daughter, all going to ADORE at the appropriate age. My husband has lightened his grip on me and allows me to work there full time. He has also helped ADORE as a Driver. I have worked my way up to being promoted to Project Manager. I love my job. Because of ADORE I have had many opportunities to learn, be free an be active. My husband has learned to trust and he has taken me to see my family in South Africa three times. My sister has also travelled to visit us. Although life is still very tough I have managed to keep going because ADORE introduced me to a life and relationship with Jesus. Now I do not fear, I pray instead and I have taught my children also. Name: Keadilmwe Pata DOB: not known GENDER Female AGE approx 35 years I am known as Mma Pata. I have been an orphan since I was a child. I only went to primary school and I did not pass so that was the end of my education. I had a traditional husband and we had five children. He left me when my fifth born was a baby and went to another woman. He provides for them when he can and takes them when school are closed (school holidays. I have since had two children to another man, but I am his second wife so the other children are provided for first. I have a disability where one of my eyes does not see straight (a lazy eye). I have HIV & Aids. I have been taking medication for many years. At times I have become very sick and ADORE has helped me with extra food and medical like vitamins so make me stronger. I am one of the first volunteers to be hired by ADORE in 2015. I was hired as a teacher. Even though I had no education I am very good with children and can speak English and Setswana. ADORE gave me a lot of training on how to be a good teacher and I have grown up and was promoted be Head Teacher of the Kindy. The last three years I became the Spiritual Advisor for ADORE. I am a Christian and I believe in Jesus and the bible. I teach at ADORE the bible every morning and lead the meetings. I have had many opportunities to go to other villages and tell people about Jesus. ADORE saved me. I was suffering very much. I don’t know what would have happened to me and my children if ADORE didn’t give me a job. I can feed my children. ADORE also helped me build a house and give me many clothing for myself and my children. They have taken me on many trips and to many workshops to help me get more of an education. I love ADORE because the leaders are like parents to me. They do not judge or discriminate. I thank God for ADORE. NAME: Solly Tumelo J Kajang. DOB: 20.01.1997 I go to ADORE every day. They helped me since I was 11. I didn’t go to school after Standard Four because they said I am not normal. ADORE helped me. I used to sit around everyday doing nothing. Sometimes I would have to collect water or take care of my baby brothers. I like to smile. I don’t talk much and I don’t read and write. ADORE accept me the way I am and they taught me to pray. It helps me a lot because I used to steal soap. I don’t know why. I like soap. Now i surrender all to prayer. I give thanks to ADORE for growing me. I am blessed. NAME: Gomotsega Kafuko DOB: 26.03.1996 GENDER Female AGE 27 years I worked at ADORE a long time. I sweep all the sand. I didn’t go to school for long because I couldn’t learn. A man got me to have a baby in my stomach when I was young. He said he isn’t the father. I had a boy and I take good care of him. I cook for him and clean for him. I live with my mum and she has a lot of children. Last year men came to visit and build us a clinic in the village. My cousin said one man want me to cook for him. I got another baby. that baby go to work with me on my back. ADORE good to me. MamaPaula is my mother. DUMELA (HELLO) THANK YOU FOR READING OUR STORIES. WE THANK YOU FOR HELPING MAMAPAULA HELP US KEEP AND THE PROJECT GOING. GOD BLESS YOU. HEAR ME WHEN I CALL, O GOD OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS! YOU HAVE RELIEVED ME IN MY DISTRESS. HAVE MERCY ON ME AND HEAR MY PRAYER. Psalm 4:1
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