17 Sep 2024

Maun Ministers Fraternity has been urged to consider embracing the family building campaign in a quest to make the society a better place.

Kgosi Tawana II made the request at the just ended 12 day ‘Healthy Families Campaign’ conducted by the Health Families Foundation in Maun which reached more than 3000 people and touched lives.

The foundation is driven by Mr Percy Thaba and his wife Ms Ashely, while the campaign is aimed at building strong families, as well as a happy and healthy nation.

Kgosi Tawana II appreciated that the teachings and conversations reached many in different ways and helped them to find solutions and put things into perspective.

He stated that out of a total of 3753 of people reached, 103 individuals were offered counseling and support that would help them experience better health and well-being.

“I am inspired by this effective initiative and wish the religious fraternity could embrace and nurture it to ensure continuity for the benefit of our community,” he said.

Kgosi Tawana II was of the view that dysfunctional families, social ills and other predicaments were a direct indication that the community was unhappy and believed that the campaign could help eliminate societal challenges and restore peace and stability.

Speaking on behalf of the ministry of Local Government and Rural Development which has been supporting the foundation, deputy council secretary for North West District Council, Ms Kebalepile Horatius appreciated the campaign saying it was first of its kind in Maun where families had been prioritised above everything by the members of the community.

She said families were the cornerstone of the society, the building blocks of the nation and where individuals were nurtured and values instilled. Quoting the Vision 2036 document, she said the family was also central to household, community and national socio-economic stability and should therefore be central to all efforts of national building.

“This campaign resonates well with this as the life skills and knowledge that have been imparted to the community on marriage, family and others will go a long way in effectively changing the mind-sets and perception of the people,” she added.

As the ministry responsible for the welfare of the nation and the social functioning of families, Ms Horatius expressed gratitude for such an informative campaign citing that the government and the nation were greatly concerned about the degenerating state of families and societies as demonstrated by rising social ills.

She appreciated the foundation’s collaborative work with the ministry over the years in the area of family building and strengthening, adding that it complemented the government efforts towards building happy, healthy and resilient families.

Senior gender officer, Mr Felix Mapeu said the campaign was a step in the right direction as it intended to solve gender based violence, social ills and other related community predicaments the community encountered in Ngamiland and the entire country.

He said the campaign trained some participants who in turn would train community members adding that it had managed to broaden the training coverage to areas as far as Matsaudi, Shorobe, Somelo, Komana, Tatamoga and Toteng.

“Combating GBV and other social ills is in line with the National Transformation Agenda and Vision 2036 through its pillar of ‘Human and Social Development’. It is for these reasons that efforts by the foundation need to be acknowledged and applauded,” he added.

The co-founder of the Healthy Families Foundation, Mr Thaba thanked all those who made the campaign possible and also appreciated the participants, motivating them to apply and share what they had learnt to touch lives and save families. Ends