We are delighted to report that Polite Dwanie Tukishi, 30, is our first mother to benefit from the 'Mothers Supporting Mothers' training fund. This fund was established to help our Mothers who want to go back to school or do a training course by providing 50 percent of the total cost. Money for the fund comes from private donations and the Mothers themselves who contribute to the fund when they earn over a certain amount from the sale of the paper beads. The day the fund was launched, Dwanie decided that she wanted to return to school, which she had left at the age of 16 after both her parents died (within a week of one another). She submitted an application and was accepted to the high-achieving Francistown Senior Secondary School, where she is tackling 10 subjects through their evening class programme. Dwanie aims to get into the University of Botswana to study social work.

Dwanie’s joining of Mothers for All in 2009 changed her life as she was living in her remote home village of Semolale with no job prospects, a baby and caring for her young sister. She quickly became an enthusiastic beader and within a couple of months her earnings went from P250 (about £25) per month to nearly P1000 (£100). She says, “My daughter was six months old when I joined M4All and she was called Marcia and after doing some beads I loved and enjoyed doing them so much I changed my daughter’s name to sebaga which is a Tswana word meaning 'necklace made of beads' ”.

The Money Matters workshop was a revelation to Dwanie as she had never thought about saving money before. She said she always thought that money should be spent as soon as it comes your way. Now she has a bank account and has almost saved enough to pay her share of her two-year school course which is R2 500 (£250).

Dwanie’s actions got all our Mothers talking and thinking about how they would like to improve their education and job skills. Tshwarelo Kgababa, our youngest Selebi-Phikwe mother at 32, was quick to follow suit and recently enrolled for a certificate in business studies at the UEL Vocational College in Selebi-Phikwe. She is highly motivated and already gaining distinctions. She proudly said that all her children and her mother know she will do well in the final examinations. In January 2012 she will be required to do a two-month attachment to a business and she hopes that it is with Mothers For All. In her application to the Mothers for All training fund Tshwarelo wrote, "I want to gain more knowledge on the computer and pass on this knowledge to the youth.”  She hopes to eventually earn enough money to buy some chickens, goats and cows.

Our mothers are daring to dream of a better life for themselves as well as all the children in their care.