Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) Donates 59 Blankets to the Needy in Kweneng West Villages

Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) limited has donated 59 blankets to Tsholofelo Trust which provides support and palliative care to home based care patients and people living with HIV/AIDS in Letlhakeng, Sesung, Serinani and Ditshegwane villages.

Donating the blankets to Tsholofelo Trust management this week (June 9, 2009), the Chairman of BDC ‘s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee, Mr Simon Meti, said BDC  believes in helping the needy and as a result saw it fit to urgently  respond to the call to provide warmth through the  blankets to people identified by Tsholofelo Trust for such help. He said although BDC has limited resources, it has committed to improve the quality of daily lives of people who are disadvantaged especially the poor, the sick and the disabled.

The Corporation revamped its CSR policy last year  to support all organizations that are working towards the betterment of society with particular attention to: the promotion of Botswana for investment, care and  rehabilitation; training of the disadvantaged and the  ill; provision of recreational and sporting services; the development of professional skills and standards of performance; the promotion of community based small scale enterprises owned by an institution and the promotion of cultural activities.

Receiving the donation, the Executive Director of Tsholofelo Trust, Mr David Inger thanked BDC for the donation and the support, noting that it will help some of the 350 home based care patients registered with Tsholofelo Trust .He said more than 140 of the patients are children aged between 0 and 16 in Letlhakeng, Sesung, Serinani and  Ditshegwane villages in Kweneng West.

He also said Tsholofelo Trust does not only provide support to home based care patients through palliative care, but it is also working with preventive education programmes and support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS. Palliative care is a philosophy of care that combines active and compassionate long term treatment intended to comfort and support individuals and families coping with threatening illnesses. It combines four elements mainly, clinical, physical ,psycho-social, and spiritual therapy.