MOCHUDI – The Mochudi Resource Centre for the Blind (MRCB) is in desperate need of financial assistance as it intends to develop a structure at its plot in Mochudi.
The centre is currently based at a very small plot near the Deborah Retief Memorial Hospital which does not allow further extensions.
MRCB coordinator Tebatso Menyatso said this week that the MRCB is under the Ministry of Basic Education within the Department of Special Services and as such receives its funding from them.
However, Menyatso said government alone cannot meet building costs which necessitates fund raising activities. Speaking at the handover ceremony of music hall and instruments from DTC Botswana, Menyatso said that in the 2017/18 financial year the centre received over P2 million.
“Nonetheless the money is small and only covers staff, salary, food, utilities and support services,” she said.
The money is also said to exclude development projects such as fees for building, extending and repairing their buildings, acquisition of vehicles, insurance of staff and students as well as staff benefits which are crucial to the centre.
Moreover, she said that in Botswana there are only two centers which cater for visually impaired children, MRCB and Lephoi in Francistown. She emphasised the need for other institutions to be built to accommodate more visually impaired people.
Giving the keynote address DTCB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tabake Kobedi said it is their company’s social responsibility to identify financially challenged institutions and assist them accordingly. “On the basis of the needs of MRCB, DTC Botswana has managed to provide the centre with specialized educational equipment, Braille and computer equipment, constructed a music block and supply music equipment,” he said. He urged other companies to meet the centre’s other pressing needs. The music hall and equipment amount to P946, 981.000. In 2014 the centre and DTC embarked on a three year partnership a period over which assistance provided is valued at P1.8 million. The estimated total value of DTCB’s sponsorship, inclusive of additional items, amounts to P2, 005,571.00.
