07 Apr 2022

The Family Building campaign has been hailed as a life-changing experience.

This  came from  participants who attended the teaching and discussions sessions held in Mahalapye this week.

The campaign, organised by the Thaba family through the Healthy Family Foundation focused on strengthening happy and healthy families by equipping facilitators with insight on how to tackle life challenges.

The facilitators in turn embarked on community outreach to impart skills they learnt from training.

Chaplain Mpoloka Maseko from Botswana Prisons Service in Mahalapye expressed gratitude for the campaign and the teachings saying they would help improve prisons’ service Character Moulding programme which covered issues of positive parenting and Gender-Based Violence.

He said the information shared would also help improve the lives of prisoners.  “There are already positive testimonies from facilitators who were trained during this campaign to talk to prisoners. We are happy that the campaign is changing peoples’ lives and perceptions, as some thought prison was the end of life,” he said.

The 29-year-old man from Madiba 14 ward, Mr Gorata Morapedi said the teachings had brought a lot of change in his life as he was able to talk to his wife about things bothering him in the family and resolve issues amicably.

“What I have learnt through these teachings has made my family strong and healthier than before. I have noticed a lot of change in my group members too,” he said.

He also explained that some people in his ward were also showing a lot of interest and were requesting for one on one sessions with the facilitators.

The Foundation Trustee, Ms Ashley Thaba said many people had shown a lot of interest in the campaign as shown by the attendance rate and passion to learn.

“This shows that residents want to see a change in their lives because they do not just attend but they want to understand the teachings. We are happy with their level of cooperation and also thankful for the different stakeholders who attend our teachings,” she said

The objective, Ms Thaba said was to train 100 facilitators who would go for outreach in the community, but the number increased to accommodate other facilitators from surrounding villages.

She also noted that they received many testimonies from people who were able to see a lot of change in their lives as some are able to deal with their challenges resulting in them living happier than before.

“Our work is to change people’s hearts with the help of God, so we are happy with the positive result,” added Ms Thaba.

Ms Thaba advised parents to always spend time with their children, stressing that both men and women should consider themselves equal when raising children.

She also encouraged parents to teach children how to solve problems from a young age, saying this could help them to grow responsibly. ENDS