By TPA Watchman

Turkish Ambassador Mr. Ahmet İdem Akay on July 30th handed over P285,000-worth of special educational equipment to the Selolwe Junior Secondary School in Francistown for the visually-disabled students.

The equipment was donated by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA).

The materials included five (5) plastic braille slates, eight (8) braille writers, 5.500 sheets of braille paper, three (3) calculators with speech, one (1) heater for creating tactile studying materials, 100 sheets of swell paper, one (1) braille embosser, two (2) electronic magnifiers, one (1) braille reader and notetaker, one (1) optical reader and two (2) different Braille translation and studying software. The total value of the said materials is approximately P285.000  

Attached to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, TIKA was

established in 1992 and has carried out many aid projects in the fields of education, health, restoration, agricultural development, finance, tourism, and industry in more than 170 countries, including Botswana.

Ambassador Ahmet İdem Akay reveled that since 2020 TİKA has organized through this Embassy four food aid projects annually in Botswana. First we donated 1000 Hampers at a value of P325.000 to the COVID Relief Fund to address the needs of financially disadvantaged families, whose struggles were further deepened by the pandemic.

Then in 2021, 2022 and 2024 we donated food hampers worth a total of P634.000 to more than 1.900 families.

He said that TİKA also considers the education of younger generations, especially those with disabilities, as a high priority. For that reason, TİKA previously had such a project in Botswana back in 2020, targeting the education of children with disabilities.

“At that time TİKA extended its helping hand to disabled children and youngsters in need by providing sewing and overlock machines worth P91.000 for the vocational education class at Tlamelong Rehabilitation Centre of Botswana Red Cross”, the3 Turkish envoy explained.

For the special tools and software donated to “Selolwe Junior Secondary School” for the education of visually-disabled students, the Ambassador extended his gratitude to the Ministry of Education and Skills Development and Mr. Boy Alex Olekantse, the Chief Education Officer for North-East Region, for picking a school that could benefit from this project and also identifying their specific needs.

Ambassador Akay also attended the Official Launch of Pandamatenga Silos on 31 July, which was officiated by President Dr. Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, at the invitation of the Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA).

(C) TPA2024