The ReadAloud activations took place at a number of schools in the Mogoditshane and Tsolamosese areas where 200 books were donated. The schools included Lesirane Primary, Moamogwe Primary, Mogoditshane, and Solomon Dihutso Primary school.

The donation is part of our Adopt A School CSR initiative which was first introduced in 2014 when Old Mutual Botswana adopted Tlokweng CJSS. Over the years, Old Mutual donated a printer to Tlokweng CJSS and sponsored the annual Teachers Prize Giving.

Each of the four (4) schools received 50 books from Batswana authors; including Dr. Nankie Ramabu, Ms. Abigail Issa, Professor Rose Letsholo – Tafila, Dr. Naledi N Kgolo Lotshwao, and Mr. Edwin Moroka.

During the book handover at one of the schools, Group Head of Operations, Milton Modikele, mentioned how reading can enable to child to aspire for a career outside of the common careers such as teaching, nursing, and military to careers such as actuarial, accounting, marketing and underwriting which are jobs within the financial services sector. He also explained to the school management how the donation was made possible through collaboration with our sponsors, namely; Botswana Savings Bank (BSB), Sesiro Insurance company, Minet Botswana, Bokomo Botswana, Grant Thornton Botswana, RMB, and FNB Botswana.

From The #AreBaleng initiative, over 3000 students participated in the Read A Loud and got a chance to win some cool Old Mutual merchandise as they interacted with the authors and volunteers facilitating the sessions.

In her thank you note, the School Head of Moamogwe Primary School, Ms Mmabasadi Ratshipo, spoke about the importance of children learning to read. She mentioned how most of the students can read fluently but are sometimes unable to comprehend what they are reading. She thanked the team for taking time off their schedules to come and read to the students and that the donated books will go a long way in assisting the school as sometimes the library doesn’t have enough books to cater to all the students. In closing, she tasked the team to continue to visit the kids and that it should not be a once-off initiative even if not just for Moamogwe School but other schools around the country.

Daniel Matlhagela, General Manager at Old Mutual life, commented: “We believe Reading aloud is an important foundation to literacy development. It builds many important skills, introduces vocabulary, provides expressive reading, and helps children recognize what reading for pleasure is all about. We feel passionate about uplifting socio-economic conditions in Botswana so that we make a difference in the communities where our staff and customers work live. Old Mutual Cares!