REACH4LIFE
A Reach4Life club gathers under a mogothu tree at Tshwaragano Junior Secondary School in Maun
Substance abuse and pregnancy are on the rise among youth in northern Botswana, with Maun Senior Secondary School recording its highest number of pregnant students ever in 2023. HIV rates also are increasing, with an 85 percent surge in prevalence in Ngamiland West between 2013 and 2021.
In 2004, a group of youth in South Africa developed a curriculum called Reach4Life to deliver in secondary schools to counter the country’s HIV pandemic. Love Botswana was one of the first organizations to begin implementing the program, starting in 2005, and we have reached tens of thousands of youth with its powerful messages.
We organize Reach4Life clubs in secondary schools throughout northern Botswana. Our facilitators meet weekly with club members to deliver the curriculum’s 40 lessons, which are designed to help youth rethink their values around identity, sexuality and healthy relationships, substance use, and other issues facing today’s youth. The program has resulted in better grades, improved attitudes and decision-making, and higher school attendance.
The Reach4Life Bible is a cornerstone of the curriculum and is available for download at Google Play and the App Store
Students in Ghanzi with their new Reach4Life Bibles
METRO WORLD CHILD
Love Botswana launched Metro World Child in 2022. Delivered in primary schools, it uses colorful posters, engaging stories, games, and songs to deliver a faith-based curriculum that teaches life lessons and builds character. Love Botswana facilitators deliver 24 lessons annually, addressing topics such as bullying, respect, and honesty. The program is in use in 13 countries and reaches more than 250,000 children each week.
A facilitator displays one of the posters that help deliver a story to a rapt group of children
Along with delivering this proven life skills program, Love Botswana will be erecting playgrounds at 40 primary schools throughout northern Botswana through our 40/40 Legacy Vision project which commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Lackeys’ arrival in Africa in 1987. The playgrounds are possible through a partnership with Project Playground and USAID’s Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program.
These industrial playgrounds are decommissioned from parks in America and then restored by Project Playground, which then ships them to countries where “kids have never seen [a playground].” The first playground was launched in Maun at the Life Centre on 17 November 2023.
At the ribbon-cutting of a new playground in Maun, Botswana in November 2023