BOSEJA COMMUNITY BUILDS A TOILET FOR A DISABLED MAN ‘S FAMILY
In 2017 Keofe Nkadi’s left leg was amputated below the knee due to complications related to sugar diabetes.
Before then, this father of four was an active man who worked temporary jobs to provide for his children, until a persistent ulcer on his leg slowed him down.
“At the time I was trying to build a home for my children though it was hard because of my ill health,” Nkadi explained in an interview this week at his home in Boseja ward in Maun.
In 2017 his leg was amputated, living him to hop on one leg. Soon afterwards the right leg also started having the same problem, and I could no longer hop on it. I had to use supporting rods to drag myself around the yard. I did not have a wheel chair,” he explained.
Being a single parent after his baby mama allegedly dumped him and left him under the care of his children, Nkadi would drag himself with the help of his eldest daughter, Kemoreng Motamma to the neighbours toilet.
It was not until recently that a wheel chair was donated to him and Motamma and his siblings would push it through the heavy Maun sand to get her father to the neighbours.
But good Samaritans heard about the old man’s plight and built him a user friendly pit latrine in his yard.
“I am really grateful because this means I would no longer have to wait for other people to take me out when nature calls. I will be able to roll the wheel chair to the loo with all my dignity in tact,” Nkadi said
His daughter, Motamma added that the other challenge with caring for her father was shortage of water. Since they cannot afford to connect water she sometimes leaves him alone when she goes to fetch water from the local standpipe.
“I have to clean him up and wash his clothes as well so it is not an easy task for me, not to mention the heaviness of the wheelchair which I push around in deep sand, ” lamented Motamma.
Children from the neighbourhood do help push the wheelchair sometimes, but Motamma insists that they stay in a very sandy terrain and because the wheelchair was not designed for such, the wheels have already been damaged and therefore very hard for him to push it on his own.
Botswana Life Insurance employees had visited the family home on Wednesday last week to officially hand over a user friendly toilet they had built for Nkadi.
Handing the toilet keys to Nkadi, one of the Botswana Life employees Nlebesi Mpapo said they used the P10 000 granted to employees every year by their company for use in charity gestures such as these. We use the money for charity purposes and as a way of giving back to communities that we work with.”
Meanwhile Boseja ward community members under a committee called “Are thuseng ka bonno,” have pledged to build Nkadi a house.
Area councillor who initiated the programme, Itumeleng Kelebetseng said they could have completed the two-bedroom house last year had it not been it for the outbreak of COVID-19 which caused some people from honouring their pledges.
“We have enough bricks as you can see, so what is remaining is the roofing pledge. But the house is nearing completion and we believe it will be done although it is taking longer than initially planned. Our plan is to build him a good house, two beds with sitting room, kitchen and a bathroom.”Kelebetseng explained.
Asked why the council was not helping him through destitute housing programme, Kelebetseng explained that, the man had lost his residential plot certificate through a fire incident but it is taking too long for the land board to issue him with duplicates.
“The council can only help when certificates are available but as the community we do not have to wait that long to help out,”said the councillor
In God we trust