Mahikeng – The North West Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs took time to do charity work at Retlametswe Special School located at Imperial Reserve near Mahikeng. The departmental officials brought food and drinks, played different games including jumping castle entertainment to show them love and brighten their mood.
This initiative came as part of the Casual Day celebrations and contributions to charity, as per the National Council of Persons with Physical Disabilities, celebrated on the first Friday of September month. It has been running for the past 18 years, in partnership with its national beneficiaries namely South Africa National Council for the Blind, Disabled People South Africa (DPSA), South Africa Federation for Mental Health, Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA) and Epilepsy South Africa.
Retlametswe Special School was founded in 1986 when it was still operating from a house and a new and a better building was opened in 1994, currently the school has about 145 learners mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds with different forms of disabilities, the school offers Basic life Skills consisting of self help skills and other subjects such as Skills Development, were learners are taught fence making, candle projects, knitting and leather making as well as Basic Reading and Writing including Art Crafts.
The school is funded by government and parents are given transport subsidy for learners. Most of the children receive social grants. The MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs Manketsi Tlhape has commended the employees for taking time to lay a helping hand to charity. “I am very impressed with the attitude of the workforce I am leading; this is true humanity keep it up this shows that we are heading somewhere as a nation,” said MEC Tlhape.
The principal of the school Moipone Khuduge said, “I’m really honoured and humbled by your presence at the school. You could have chosen any centre but I’m grateful that we were the lucky ones this time around. These kids are not asking a lot, all that they need is to be shown love and well cared for. Their happiness and their priceless smile are very close to my heart.”
“Although there are several challenges that we are experiencing at the school such as lack of sponsorship for uniforms and few classes which results in teachers accommodating two classes in one classroom our major concern is the fact that there are no disability centers with workshops in Mahikeng where these kids can continue with skills development or practice the skills that they have been taught.
Once they complete their studies successfully and graduate from the school, they go back to the streets to face different sorts of abuse as they are defence less. We plead to government to build those centers and workshops to keep them busy and away from the abuse,” said Ms Khuduge.
