Bricks Project Alleviates Poverty in Maubelo
Lebogang Baingapi | Monday October 9, 2017 18:00
The project, which is under the poverty eradication programme, started in 2007 to create employment for locals in a district which is poverty stricken.
The Kgalagadi District Council public relations officer, Pearl Mogobe explained that the beneficiaries were identified by the social workers through an assessment exercise. She said the project aims to create employment using the available resources in the district, that is the Kgalagadi river sand to make bricks. She said the sand is mixed with cement and fly ash from Morupule to make it hard and strong to use.
The Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) also assisted the project through research and innovation. They came up with the use of pulverised fly ash in the manufacturing and strengthening of bricks.
“The brick has been certified strong to use by the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BoBs) and the team currently makes a maximum of 600 bricks per day. These ranges from 4.5 inches, 6 inches, pavers and stock bricks,” explained Mogobe.
The criteria for enrolment stipulates that a beneficiary should have been a resident of the village for more than five years, aged between 21-60 years, must accept the stipulated wages from the governing body and should be unemployed.
Mogobe further noted that they wish to extend the project to Lehututu village in the Hukuntsi Sub-District to alleviate poverty amongst the youth.
One of the beneficiaries, Onalenna Motlogelwa said through the project, they have been able to acquire skills ranging from brick moulding, business management, financial literacy and social upliftment.
Motlogelwa added that they have individually been able to build their own houses through the bricks.
“We have also been able to sell the bricks for income and sustained our families. Our lives have improved for the better,” said Motlogelwa.
The integrated poverty alleviation and housing project was established in 1992 in Kgalagadi as a way to curb poverty amongst the venerable groups in the society.
The initiative started with backyard gardening as the most prominent way of achieving the goals of sustaining lives of those affected. It was then realised that in some other parts of the country, it is not going to work due to the different climatic conditions and nature of the soil.