Residents of Mmopane, about 14 kilometers outside Gaborone, gathered early on Sunday to witness the official hand over of a P300 000 building, donated to them by the First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB) Volunteer staff for use as a Home Based Care Centre.
Through the FNBB Staff Volunteer Programme, staff members at FNBB branches of Riverwalk and Industrial, along with the Human Resources and Training departments, collaborated and built the Centre out of compassion, and driven by a sense of obligation to give back to the community.
Bomolemo Selaledi, FNBB’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, said that the Bank established the FNBB Foundation Fund, under which the Staff Volunteer Programme was founded. This affords the bank’s employees an opportunity to identify projects of their choice and commit time, share skills or donate funds to enable the Fund to meet its objectives.
“The core of our mandate has been to identify what the bank can do to help communities around the country, in as broad a range of areas as education, arts and culture as well as sports and recreation,” said Selaledi, adding that, on that score, they are proud as FNBB to be associated with initiatives such as the Mmopane Home Based Care Center.
Alfred Dintwe, Chairperson of the HBC Group, itemized, stage by stage, the different challenges they had to face and pointed out that, in the final analysis, they were happy that they soldiered on and are now only left with a few insignificant things to deal with before using the centre.
“We are very happy for what the FNBB has done,” said Dintwe, “and we promise you that the facility will be put to maximum use. In fact, it might be of interest to you that we also acknowledge an additional P15 000 donation we got from Kabelano Charity, for which we are equally thankful.”
Dintwe revealed that P7 000 from the Kabelano contribution was used for electricity installation, adding that the remaining P8 000 had been budgeted by the group to buy beds for those patients admitted to the centre.
Kgosi Moarabi Manthe urged those who are ill, especially those already identified as needing special attention, to desist from drinking alcohol and indulging in other unhealthy practices that could worsen their conditions.
“Otherwise all these well-intended gestures by the FNBB will be reduced to nothing,” said Moarabi.
The Center, which stands near the village’s Health Post, consists of a spacious hall, which will house the beds, and has a kitchen, Store Room, toilet and bathroom.
