Children in the Wilderness (CITW), in association with Diacore Gaborone Marathon, today hosted a successful Sports in the Wilderness event at Tshwaragano Primary School in the heart of the city’s Old Naledi. This event marked the culmination of CITW’s Sports in the Wilderness programme, which commenced on 11 February 2019 and was hosted across 15 affiliated Eco-Club schools in Botswana. The programme was funded by Diacore Gaborone Marathon, at a total cost of BWP287 000.
One hundred children at Tshwaragano Primary School participated in this final event, having begun preparations and qualifiers a week prior. The finals included three sporting disciplines, including individual running races of 1 500 m, 800 m, 400 m, 200 m and 100 m, and two team events: soccer and netball. The Tshwaragano Primary School finals were the biggest in the Sports in the Wilderness series, with the school having in excess of 1 000 enrolled learners.
“The Tshwaragano Primary School Sports Day was the final event in this exciting series of impactful events throughout our schools in Botswana. We are proud to have partnered with Diacore Gaborone Marathon on this initiative, which has given us the opportunity to showcase our care for the environment, as well as the importance of physical and mental fitness, and working together as a team. These are paramount to a culture of health and wellness, and are practices we need to instil from a young age”, commented Wilderness Safaris Botswana Managing Director, Kim Nixon.
Tshwaragano Primary School’s Eco-Club was launched in April 2019, and is already the host of approximately 40 learners. CITW and Diacore Gaborone Marathon’s Sports Day serves as an additional demonstration of Wilderness Safaris’ commitment to investing in youth development. Wilderness Safaris also donated key equipment and infrastructure to the school, including JoJo water tanks and volleyball equipment to support the upcoming introduction of the sport at the school.
Managing Director of Diacore, Kfir Teichman, noted: “What an incredible way to end the CITW sports days! As Diacore, we are delighted to see how well these sports events have been received by both the students and the schools. There is a clear appetite for more activity and support when it comes to sports education and, indeed environmental practice. Hosting this series of Sports Days ahead of the 2019 Diacore Gaborone Marathon truly cements the importance of investing in youth athletics’ potential”.
“We are humbled and honoured to have had the opportunity to work with the team at Tshwaragano Primary School and the 14 other schools across Botswana, and to have the support of such a strong partner as Diacore Gaborone Marathon. Through collaboration and engagement, we believe there is a great opportunity to truly change the lives of our youth, which forms an integral component of our CITW programme”, concluded Nixon.
