Bana Ba Letsatsi (BBL) was born from the mind of Emily Cusack in 2002, an Irish woman who travelled to Botswana to volunteer as a nurse. Maun was a very different village than what it is now, and our centre was born out of the many needs Emily identified. Emily saw children roaming the streets, engaging in petty crime, begging, and sniffing glue.
Supported by the Maun Counselling Centre with funding from the United Nations Development Program, Emily with the help of community members began gathering some of those children she saw to spend time together under the shade of a tree. Emily’s objective was to instil joy into the lives of these children and help them realize the potential that they have.
The course of BBL was changed in late 2003 when Emily met Bobbie Crosby, American woman who was looking to assist with special projects in Botswana. Until 2003, all the funding for BBL’s activities came from Emily’s odd jobs in town, and from the people and companies that she mobilized. Bobbie’s foundation, the Somarela Fund, set BBL on its strong path forward.
When Emily returned to the UK, she passed the reins of BBL to Lillian Costa; a young Brazilian woman who had come to Maun to volunteer for an HIV/AIDS educational programme. With the financial and moral support given by the Somarela Fund, Lilian pushed BBL into its next stage of life. By 2008, BBL had a wonderful and committed staff team that had created a unique support system for over 200 children, youth, and their families.
Our History
Following Lilian’s tenure, Fiona Hatton coordinated BBL from 2008 to 2011, followed by Charlie Ellis from 2011 to 2014and handed over to Margret Morris who coordinated BBL from 2014 to September 2015.
The current Director Ms Taboka Rotsi joined BBL in 2016. Under her youthful leadership, BBL has a team of professionally qualified individuals who a trained for the services offered at the centre, BBL programming has been enhanced to meet the needs of each individual child and in 2017 the organization was allocated a piece of land and Taboka and her team mobilized funding locally and internationally to build a beautiful spacious centre.
Since its birth, BBL has evolved beyond simply a ‘needs-based’ approach to a more holistic approach that combines social, psychological, and educational support to empower Maun’s OVCs. BBL has a bright future ahead of it, and building from our solid foundation, we will continue to support the vulnerable children and youth in Maun for many years to come.