What is happening to our families?

The family in South Africa has been in freefall for decades, leaving children deprived of a healthy childhood and no cohesive national initiative to address this. The impact is measured in compromised morality and growing community disintegration.

Three factors dominate:

• Parental conflict leading to Gender-Based Violence and often child abuse
• Parents abrogating their responsibility and substituting parental love and nurturing with over-given material objects
• The epidemic of single-parent families (often with absent father).

After seven years of listening to the pain and trauma of broken people and their families during Inner Healing workshops, Initiatives of Change realized that a national, non-political campaign, backed by resources, to focus on the inner healing of individuals and the renewing of family life is needed.

How can that happen? 

• Combine resources regionally, where feasible. There are many faith-based bodies and NGOs focused on the family. Churches, in particular, might find ways at a regional level to combine resources to tackle family breakdown and lead healing initiatives.
• Agree a guided and tested process that can be used for individual healing leading to family healing.
• Accept that changing the trajectory of broken families is a long-term undertaking. If there is to be real impact and positive results, a unified strategy needs to be followed.

A possible long-term goal?

A Ministry for the Family, set up under a similar mandate as that of the Chapter 9 Institutions that are independent of party political constraints. Its purpose would be to ensure policies and structures are in place to support the building of whole and healthy families.

Where to start?

A small group of faith-based organizations and NGOs that have a particular focus on developing whole families can be the catalyst.  Their initial task would be to determine how a broad-based approach to inner family healing might be realized. 

Initiatives of Change is willing to start the ball rolling.

Stay tuned for more news and updates about our programme!