I hope you had a blast of a festive season. I had too. I also hope that everyone of us managed to avoid being silly or if we did indulge it was not too much. In the last edition I mentioned that 2012 was a relatively good year for us as a nation. 

Notwithstanding inherent setbacks here and there, we managed to reach certain goals. The most memorable is the Zebras’ maiden appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. 

Then it was Nijel Amos who gave us the first ever Olympic medal from the London Games. We closed the year on a high again after the national Under-17 soccer team qualified for the 10th Confederation of African Football Under-17 Championships scheduled for Morocco in April. 

It appears Botswana is gaining ground in the sporting world. Let us keep the momentum and the only way to achieve this is to build on the foundations we laid. While 2012 was a turning point for us, 2013 should be a year of progress in which we leverage on the successes we achieved both collectively and at individual level.

At Kutlwano we aim to continue where we left off. We hope you enjoyed the last 12 editions of the magazine. This year we want to pull up our socks to deliver a more interesting and life enriching bouquet of stories.

The current cover story is an attempt to do just that in that it is about a young successful woman who found it fitting to land a helping hand to less privileged members of our society. She is an epitome of the Vision 2016 pillar of a just, caring and compassionate nation. 2016 is just around the corner and her story behoves us to rise up and give other pillars of the vision a face by fulfilling what they ask of us.

 Still in this edition, we pride ourselves with another story of a young female soldier who graduated from the Remote Area Development Programme (RADP) to become one of Botswana Defence Force’s Top 10 crack shots. Hers is an inspiring tale of a “nobody” who defied the odds to become a somebody in life.

It also lands weight to the argument that government programmes would only succeed if those they are intended for use them properly. It is not every day that we hear of RADP beneficiaries who make it through the programme. I suspect as the media we have not gone all out to identify such people and tell their stories.

It is, therefore, our intention at Kutlwano to intensify our efforts to highlight such success stories to prove that indeed government programmes geared towards uplifting the living standards of Batswana have a positive impact.

Lastly, let us join hands to make 2013 a fruitful year as we trudge forward towards 2016 and beyond. ENDS

Editor

Thomas Nkhoma.