Africa-Press – Botswana. Healthy Families Foundation has kick-started a 12-day family building campaign in Gabane in a drive to build strong families and a healthy nation.
Presenting the vision of the foundation during the opening ceremony on Monday, co-founder of Healthy Families Foundation Mr Percy Thaba emphasised the importance of strong families, noting that existing social ills were a direct outcome of broken or dysfunctional families.
“Our mandate is to help build healthy families through these campaigns. If we can fix the root, we can fix the fruit as we have realised that fixing the fruit first will not in any way eliminate the problem, so we start with family building because the biggest responsibility comes from home,” he said.
Mr Thaba said they had already touched around 10 000 lives through the campaigns, adding that the Gabane campaign would cover 13 topics that include unmet expectations in relationships, communication, preparing for marriage in the right way, His/her needs, Love languages, Gender Based Violence and how to relate with your children.
The teachings are held daily from 9am to 11am at Gabane Junior Secondary School.
He said the Gabane campaign was the sixth, and that they started with a nationwide campaign through Btv show: Talking with the Thabas.
The foundation’s trustee Ms Asley Thaba said a desired healthy environment or nation starts with an individual accepting change and growth.
Gabane/Mmankgodi MP Mr Thomas Kagiso Mmusi acknowledged the impact of the teachings of the Healthy Families Foundation. He encouraged the community to take part in the campaign to build better communities, saying it was also an opportunity to change the mindsets.
The campaign is sponsored by the FNBB Foundation, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Debswana. FNBB Foundation Chairperson Ms Myra Sekgororoane said they were pleased to be part of initiatives that uplift the moral fibre of the nation in a quest to make the society a better place to live in.
“A family is a number one source of who we are and how we are moulded. It is the pillar of support and protection,” she said.
Reflecting on the COVID-19 lockdown, Ms Sekgororoane said they were an eye opener of how families were a vital source of support and comfort notwithstanding that during the lockdowns social ills like GBV were on the rise
“FNBB Foundation found it fit to donate a total of P459 800 towards the Healthy Families Foundation for Gabane village campaign”, she said.
Debswana Corporate Affairs Manager Mr Rebaone Tswiio said they have adopted the Building Forever Strategy, which looked beyond the diamond industry. He said the strategy focused on stimulating the economy from dependence on Debswana hence the need to invest in building a person who would always be there even if minerals come to extinction.
He said for improved productivity they needed strong manpower, meaning that the manpower should be coming from healthy and strong families.
“To have such manpower Debswana has partnered with other organisations like FNBB Foundation to invest in building the primary unit of the society which is family,” he said.
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