It is every nation’s wish to see its youth finding direction in life and focusing on the most important things.
The fact is that the youth are tomorrow’s national leaders, mothers and fathers. As a nation, we should constantly encourage and remind our youth that they have the insurmountable responsibility of carrying the torch after we have departed. They are tomorrow’s leaders. They must be reminded of the task that lies ahead, such that they prepare themselves accordingly.
The youth should take education seriously. Education is the key to success in the 20th century. One can neither go anywhere nor do anything without education. The government has invested a lot in the education system. Botswana is one of the countries that rely on expatriates countries for technocrats and specialists.
It is time that we produce our own. But first, our youth must appreciate, and fully utilize, the concerted efforts that government is engaged in to provide for their education. We pay for their tuition fees; we issue them with grants and even give them monthly allowances so that they go to school.
Such advantages are only enjoyed by our children. In other countries, such incentives, if we may call them such, are unheard of. In neighboring Zimbabwe and South Africa, which, for the record, is more economically endowed that us, parents have the burden of providing for their children’s education. They pay the hefty fees on their own, and there are no grants that are issued out.
Many students have by now failed to advance with their education because they cannot afford it. But Batswana youth have it all. The problem is that they do not take it seriously.
Statistics show that most of the youths in Botswana are HIV positive. In the African region Botswana is popularly known for sexual immorality and drunkenness. It is not our parents who earned us this despicable reputation. It is our youths. It is, therefore, their responsibility to rid us of this shameful stigma.
Immorality has impacted negatively on our lives. Most of our parents failed to have a decent home with the father, mother and children living together. Today, 80% of our women are single mothers.
We should take advantage of the advantages at our disposal because they will not always be there. We should be innovative, initiative and willing to take the lead.
Our backyard gardens can produce at least 8kg’s per square metre per year of leafy vegetables(spinach, rape, cabbage etc) and 10kg/m per year of fruit vegetable(tomatoes, onions, lettuce etc).This equates to 100square metres, providing 50g of leafy vegetables and 100g of fruit vegetables per person daily. Backyard gardens have sustained most Zimbabweans during the economic hardships in their country?
Most Zimbabwean families managed to survive because they fully utilized the small pieces of land they had. They grew vegetables, sold some and set aside some for consumption. Thus they managed to survive those economic constraints. Cultivating our plots also has the advantage of giving individuals a sense of purpose.
