02 Jun 2022

 Dreams Botswana in collaboration with NGOs and government entities have stepped up efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and produce young adults with entrepreneurship and life skills.     

Dreams Botswana ambassador Ms Pearl Galelemogwe, said the targeted age groups were adolescents, girls and young women, noting that they were more prone to getting infected with HIV due to lack of information on how to take care of their health.

Officially launching the Dream Botswana North East District road show at Tatisiding on Tuesday, Ms Galelemogwe said the three-day roadshow covering Makaleng, Tshesebe and Masunga would avail information to the targeted groups.

Ms Galelemogwe said another objective of the roadshow was to encourage young people to be bold, resilient and safe in their decision making.

She indicated that different organisations such as BOCAIP, ACHAP, and DHMT were part of the event.

The ambassador noted that stalls were availed to offer services such as HIV testing, Prevention option for HIV negative people (PrEP) as well as counselling services.

She said such an opportunity was very important for the youth to learn to learn to take charge of their lives.

“Today’s launch involves all age groups because we aim to get the adults and elders to understand our intention and hence encourage their children to come forward and learn,” she said.

“We are bringing services to the youth and creating a friendly environment that will enable them to be comfortable enough to share their issues with us in order to get assistance,” she added.

For his part Kgosi Simon Nkgageng expressed concern on how the youth carried themselves when it came to relationships.

He noted that cohabitation continued to be an issue with countless cases that needed solutions over distribution of property when couples separated.

The chief said cohabitation was not only immoral but risky when conflicts arose.

Kgosi Nkgageng advised older women to avoid getting into romantic relationships with younger men who end up swindling them what they worked hard for.

 “These young men tend to destroy cars which they are unable to pay for and irresponsibly spend money on activities that do not even contribute to bettering their lives,” he said.

Kgosi Nkgage commended Dreams Botswana, hoping that the event would bring light to young women who seem to have given up on their dreams.

The house kwasa queen, Naledi Kaisara aka Slizer mesmerised the attendees with her splendid performance.

HDreams Botswana is a US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative that commenced in 2017 in Gaborone with the mandate of empowering young girls of ages ranging from nine to 24 on issues such as gender based violence, sexual health education and entrepreneurship. ends