On 2nd March 10 Rotarians set out to hand out 25 wheelchairs in Mahalapye, Serowe and Lerala. The plan was that we would do handouts in Mahalapye and Serowe on the Saturday, overnight at Goo-Moremi and then do the handout in Lerala on our way back to Gaborone on the Sunday.
The Rotary team consisted of President Bill McLellan, President Elect Casmir Jongman, Assistant Governor Ignatius Ndzinge, Past Presidents John Cunliffe and Gary Lord, Rotarians Graham Burt, Tony Chigaazira, Roy Davies, Jon Major plus Rotarian Amy McBride of the Rotary Club of Montrose. Casmir brought along his two sons and the son of Rotarian Mpho Brandy Mbangiwa.
Our first port of call was the Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church in Mahalapye. Casmir grew up in Mahalapye and attended Saint Patrick’s. His mother Violet Jongman is still very active in this church and had assisted Casmir in setting up the wheelchair distribution.
Then we headed of to Tsholofelo Rehabilitation Centre in Serowe where we were met by the centre’s coordinator Mrs Bolaane. We were also joined by Rotarian Alan Golding who was on his way back to Gaborone from the Francistown area.
Mrs Bolaane lead us in a song which included signing the words. She attempted to teach us the various signs with limited success, but we had a great time in the process.
After the handover, Gary and Alan returned to Gaborone and the rest of us set off for the Moremi Gorge minus Tony who was overnighting in Palapye and would join us again at Lerala.
We settled in at Goo-Moremi and had a braai down at the campsite. On Sunday morning we were up early in the morning to attempt to climb up the gorge to waterfall number three.
After breakfast we set off for Lerala.
We arrived at the Lerala Congregational Church at about midday with the church service in full swing. The last of the wheelchairs were assembled and taken into the church. The individuals were placed in their wheelchairs and blessed by the pastor.
After the service was concluded we were provided with lunch after which we set off home.
