Madam Speaker ignites Barolong HS with donations

Since the inception of the charity drive three years ago, the organisation has distributed at least 500 school shoes each year. Being one of many such projects supported by the Speaker, the charity drive aimed to address the endless challenge of school girls who continuously lack basic dignity essentials such as sanitary towels and boy children who do not have proper school shoes. 
Dr Mohono also identified pre-used furniture and donated it to the school’s staff room.
“I don’t know poverty because my mother was a teacher and my grandmother had a business. Significantly, my mother taught me that there were people who go to bed hungry and we need to thank God that we are blessed,” said Dr Mohono.
She took a swipe at politicians for what she said were undermining people and were arrogant.
She quoted from the Biblical book of Proverbs 16 reading verse 3 saying: “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. The Lord Hath made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil. Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination tp the Lord, though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished”.
She credited The Groove Foundation founder and businessman, Sipho “Mayweather” Lecogo, a former learner at the school, for the donations.
“I thank Mayweather for remembering where he comes from. Don’t allow where you come from to determine where you are going. We need to make sure we restore the dignity of the girl child through collaboration because it takes a village to raise a child,” noted the Speaker.
Regarding furniture donation, she asserted: “I’ve been a teacher for fifteen years and I know the struggle faced by the schools. As teachers you must sit on dissent chairs when you mark the learners’ school work and that is why we took unused furniture from our storage to donate it”.
She encouraged learners to concentrate on education and commended the ANC led government which assisted her through the AU funding availed for politicians to qualify on Governance and Leadership.to attain her Masters and Phd in Agriculture majoring on crop farming.
“I want to see poor children flourish. I don’t read about poverty because I know it, live it and know what it does to people. I’m the son of a domestic worker and I told myself that one day I will break the circle of poverty because nothing will stop a man with a right mental attitude to achieve his dream,” lamented Lecogo.
He said The Groove Foundation’s objective was to change lives and that they collaborated with The Provincial Legislature as the custodian of Public Participation when they planned to render donations to the school.
School SRC (School Representative Council) deputy president, Goitseone Motsamai expressed gratitude to the Speaker and Lecogo for the donations.
“We conveyed our heartfelt and deepest gratitude for the essentials we’ve receive. Thanks for investing in us and our future. We’ll now be able to attend school with pride and comfort and the sense of belonging,” he said.
Ward 18 councillor, Felix Nko, also commended the guests for the event and further implored learners to desist from social ills including drugs and substance abuse.
“This is an old school and an academy that has proudly produced big names of footballers. I’ve observed learners coming to school smoking dagga and some engage in gangsterism and this will send you to jail. We used to defend this school during our days as learners and I plead with you to do the same because education is the key to success,” said Nko.
School Governing Body (SGB) member, Pule Thebe said the event’s success was a blessing to their frustrations by the Provincial Education Department which failed to assist the school with donations.