The Vice President’s Office has partnered with the Healthy Families Foundation to undertake a village wide campaign in Rakops. The campaign enthused community involvement and turned out to be a success. Subsequently many social ills such as GBV, unhealthy marriages headed towards divorce, suicide rates and depression, etc. were instantaneously improved.”

We have found their Foundation to be effective in behavioral changes in social ills which our Ministry if mandated to deal with.”

We heard testimonies from numerous campaign participants that due to the lessons learned, gender based violence, substance abuse, and other issues in their homes had improved after applying the principles learned. As police, it our mandate to embark more on prevention of crimes than dealing with crimes once they are committed. Therefore, this campaign was a welcome development in the entire village…Since the campaign, we have seen a new sense of hope and unity around the village…”

We are confident that this training will go a long way in equipping our Dikgosi (Chiefs) as well as making positive changes in our village. The campaign was well attended each day and there has been a lot of positive feedback from the participants the campaign attracted from all over the village.”

To my amazement, the people continued to come in large numbers for the duration of the campaign. The daily commitment was inspiring and unprecedented. The campaign saw around 2000 people participating daily. We heard of testimonies of GBV cases decreasing, marriages being restored, youth regaining hope in the institution of marriage, and even the police noted that it helped them prevent crimes which they normally saw originate in conflict in the homes.”

By directly offering practical skills to strengthen relationship and build families, the campaign saw issues such as GBV, suicide rates, estranged marital relationships, depression, etc. improve.”

We are of the view that “Talking with the Thabas” (TV show) is the right platform to build stronger families and address some of the social ills such as gender-based violence and rising cases of divorce bedevilling many countries in Africa. If left unaddressed, these social ills have the potential to destroy families which are the basic foundation of a healthy nation and deny countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

The campaign was helpful as it reached a large number of people in a specified time. It was more like group counseling in which individuals discussed their problems and resolved them at a group level… The model, without hesitation, would be recommended to be used by any organization…”

I am happy to testify that many families are revived and relationships have been restored…I am very proud to inform the Thabas that these topics will be infused in our School Guidance and Counselling Programme for the second term. This can help to curb the problem of indiscipline that most schools (including ours) are grappling with.”

The campaign opened up an opportunity to read the lost around us and gave us a platform to interact with them and invite them into our churches and family building groups. The report I got from other pastors was that the campaign helped them and their congregations learn more about what it looks like to practically have a biblically based healthy family.”

A lot has happened in people’s lives in Serowe. Everywhere people are testifying about this campaign. They noted that the campaign has changed them and brought them life. They said all responsibility is with them to change from the way they have been doing things.”

The Thabas have been given a gift of wisdom which allows them to see what people cannot see and hear what others can’t hear. This has helped them to create a workbook which has helped Serowe go deeper into reviving and enriching marriages. The workbook is a marriage Bible.”