Lady Khama Charitable Trust (LKCT) has so far this year raised a little over P5 million that has been donated to various organisations with two fund raising events to go.

Speaking at a donation handover by Lucara Diamond Corp to LKCT, chairperson of LKCT Mr Dale ter Haar said the events left were the Family Fun Day and Urban Obstacle Course which would take place this coming Saturday and the Lady Khama Cup in October. With Lucara Diamond Corp donating over P2.6 million, Mr ter Haar said the donation was received on behalf of the Lady Khama Disability Programme, Tlhokomela Trust, Botswana Retired Nurses Society and Grandmothers Support Group.

“We are humbled to have been selected to be the conduit for the disbursement of the funds raised at the Sotheby’s auction in London which Lucara then matched,” he said. He indicated that the Trust was approached to identify and select three charitable organisations that targeted specific sectors that spoke to Lucara’s corporate social responsibility focus, namely disadvantaged children, women and wildlife protection in Botswana.

Speaking of some of the beneficiaries, Mr ter Haar said the partnership between LKCT and Shonaquip dealt with children with disability. “Shonaquip specialises in the design and manufacture of mobility devices that offer customised support for children with severely impaired musculoskeletal and neurological function and importantly are appropriate for use in rural and resource poor settings,” he said, adding that LKTC had committed to purchase 15 specialised and customised wheel chairs for disadvantaged children annually for the next three years.

He further said the Grandmothers Support Group was a subsidiary of the Botswana Retired Nurses Society and the members were primary care givers for orphans of the AIDS epidemic in Botswana.

Mr ter Haar noted that LKCT focused on identifying suitable sustainable projects through their comprehensive grant submission and review procedure.

“We focus on targeting funds towards organisations which have a good track record in good governance, financial discipline as well as human resource capacity to carry out their mandate,” he said. He said they would ensure that the funds would be used for their intended purposes. For his part, President and chief executive officer of Lucara Diamond Corp Mr William Lamb said they auctioned off three stones and pledged to match the amount raised.