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NewsDay

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It is finished

Opinion & Analysis
MOTIVATION:Ashley Thaba WE are done! For the past seven months, the government of Botswana has been airing a TV show, Talking with the Thabas, that we produced to strengthen families by offering practical marital tips from our own marriage. This coming Sunday is the last airing of Season One. We have enjoyed the journey of […]

MOTIVATION:Ashley Thaba

WE are done! For the past seven months, the government of Botswana has been airing a TV show, Talking with the Thabas, that we produced to strengthen families by offering practical marital tips from our own marriage. This coming Sunday is the last airing of Season One. We have enjoyed the journey of hearing thousands testify to how the show has positively impacted their lives and families. For that, we truly praise God. We self-sponsored this show because my husband and I genuinely wanted to encourage Batswana, the country where we reside, with practical tips on how to enrich their marriages and families. From villages to towns to large cities, people have called us and told us of how their families have improved. We have heard countless testimonies in one village, Rakops, about how gender-based violence cases have decreased as they have formally used the show and the marriage workbook we wrote to have discussion groups. These discussion groups have offered an outlet for people to openly discuss issues that were previously kept quiet. We have heard of groups consisting of over 400 singles around the country who have said that doing this marriage workbook along with watching the show has challenged them to think seriously before getting involved in relationships. They are learning practical tips on how to build strong foundations for marriages which will go the distance. They have been excited to meet others who are like-minded in saying we don’t want to do marriage the way we have seen it be done. They want to have happy, healthy families where they commit to one another.

Many youth have confided in us that they had given up on marriage because they had not seen in modelled in such a way that they wanted to be a part of that institution. We have heard stories of how relationships with in-laws have been improved due to us opening up about the problems we have had with our in-laws and how we worked those out. We have heard of many men saying they are now using some of the techniques Percy talked about and are being more helpful in their homes. We even got a text from a man watching the show to say he and his wife have decided to let their house helper go so that he helps his wife with all the chores and they said they are really enjoying the intimacy that is bringing to partner on household duties. We have heard of families who have been set free from years of suffering in silence as we openly talked about our struggles with substance abuse on the show.

I could go on and on with testimonies. We are so happy and so humbled. Something that started out as a dream to produce a show that could make a specific measurable positive impact has now become a reality. We have God to thank and are so grateful for this opportunity we had to open up our home and our marriage and encourage you. Everything we are and everything we have has come from God so all glory and any praise really is completely due to Him! We are just excited we got to be vessels to teach the Truths He has taught us over the 16 years of marriage we have enjoyed.

Going forward we would love to see this show aired in other countries around Sadc. We are confident any country would also benefit from this show the way Botswana did. If you do know of a decision maker whom you believe could be instrumental in getting this show on TV in your country, please let them know this is a powerful resource available and easily accessible to any African country wanting to improve their nation’s family unit and strengthen marriages across the country.

In the meantime, you should be aware that we did print a marriage workbook with every question which was asked on the TV show and our answers. If you are curious about the content of the show and would want basically the script of the entire 13 episodes plus more information and interactive questions, that workbook is available on our website www.ashleythaba.com. You can contact me at [email protected] or on our Facebook page Talking with the Thabas.

Our prayer is that this is just the beginning of wonderful national conversations around Sadc towards us seeing less victims of gender-based violence as men and women learn more practical tips on communication and conflict resolution and less divorce rates as men and women learn tips on how to deal with financial issues and decrease extra-marital affairs. We believe that strong families are the key to a strong nation. My husband and I want to avail ourselves to be used in any way possible to see this vision become a reality on a national level. Please contact us so that we can help you!