Stepping Stones International celebrates 10 years of stepping up for youth in Botswana

Friday, Oct. 14, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Abuse, HIV and inconsistent schooling are just some of the problems faced by the African youth who for the past 10 years have been helped by an organization founded by Lisa Jamu, the daughter of Deacon Drew and Sandy Petersen. 

Jamu is a graduate of J.E. Cosgriff Memorial School and Judge Memorial Catholic High School.

Stepping Stones International (SSI), a non-governmental, non-denominational, non-profit organization in Gaborone, Botswana, provides an after-school program to thousands of youth between the ages of 12 to 25 and their caregivers. In the past 10 years it has grown from helping seven youth to reaching more than 4,000.

“It’s been challenging. There is never a day that goes by that I don’t learn something new,” said Jamu, the executive director of the organization; those lessons include “how to handle a donor and how to build a building to ‘What is another issue that our youth face?’”

SSI offers a variety of services that enable “the youth to heal the scars of the past and reconnect with their lost childhood, while growing into self-sufficient young adults,” according to the SSI web page.

Jamu, a cradle Catholic, grew up always wanting to go to Africa. Her husband is from Malawi, “and in his family everyone except him has AIDS, and some of them have passed on and they left children behind.”

Understanding the needs of orphans, even when they have extended family to care for them, has led Jamu to want to help them, she said.

As she and her husband researched ways to help orphaned African youth, they found that those aged 12 to 25 were the most underserved, so they decided to focus on this age group, she said.

Prayer has played a large part in her life, she said.

“I had such great respect for Saint John Paul II. I loved the way he interacted with youth ... always saying ‘Be not afraid.’ I pray to him a lot. He is like my sounding board. So we started using the phrase ‘Be not afraid ... to be a child, explore, experiment and be a leader,’” said Jamu.

SSI began as a small center in Mochudi. Then, in 2008, they opened a larger center on land donated by the Catholic Church, with building materials provided by the United States Embassy and building plans donated by the Rotary Club of Botswana and First National Bank, which also provided furniture and vehicles. 

“You can see the growth and the expansion and the trust that the community has in us now,” said Jamu.

An example of the youth served by the center is a 19-year-old who was raised by a single mother with HIV, who also was addicted to alcohol.

“My stepfather was abusive to my mother; when she finally left him she abandoned me,” reads the young woman’s testimony on documents that Jamu has.

The young woman was sent to live with relatives, who abused her.

“From then on I was forced to live alone without the basic necessities or food,” and she tried to take her own life, the documents state.

One of the young woman’s school counselors took her to SSI, where she received help healing the emotional scars from the past and focused on improving her schooling; her goal is to escape poverty and become a lawyer, and “I am confident that I can make it,” reads the testimony.

During this anniversary year, “every month we have celebrated different aspects of SSI over the past 10 years,” Jamu said. “In January 2016 we started off the celebrations with Bishop Setlalekgosi, who approved the Catholic Church’s donation of land in 2006. We held a Mass on the grounds and he blessed families, employees and the buildings.”

The organization has also celebrated its alumni, programs of life skills, leadership, advocacy, psycho-social support, and their 80 volunteers, youth entrepreneurship and partners in the community. 

Stepping Stones International, which is supported by donations and volunteers from all over the world, is looking to expand its work with refugees in Utah, and to expand to other countries. For information, to volunteer or donate, visit www.steppingstonesintl.org or call Sandy Petersen, 801-359-2746.