MASERU – After nine-months in the making, Pusha Love has arrived! A movement that celebrates healthy living as a means to achieving individual dreams, Pusha Love promises to change the way each of us thinks about our health, life, relationships, and what it means to love oneself and others.

One unique feature of Pusha Love is its use of real people to communicate how health and healthy choices are linked to our future successes as individuals and a community. “We decided to feature real people who are working everyday to fulfil the ideals of the Pusha Love movement,” explains Pusha Love spokesperson, Manthati Phomane. “These people have real stories about the challenges most us of face when we’re trying to improve our lives. How each of them is working to overcome these challenges and stay on-track to achieve success is really inspiring,” Ms. Phomane continues.

Through these stories, Pusha Love invites every Mosotho to join the conversation about their dreams, what they are doing today to achieve those dreams, and how we as a community can better support each other to stay healthy. In its first phase, Pusha Love will feature the stories of four Ambassadors: Kamohelo, a young man with aspirations of becoming a soccer star; Limakatso, a married mother of two children who studies part-time to improve her chances of better employment; Manaleli, a young woman who dreams of becoming a teacher; and, Lehlohonolo, a married teacher with one child who’s working to start up his own business. “What will surprise many people is that these Pusha Love Ambassadors are not paid for sharing their stories and voices. These are real people who are so invested in the movement that they’re sharing their stories only because they want to make a difference,” adds Ms. Phomane.

Everything about Pusha Love promises to be different. “People are tired of health campaigns that tell them what to do without even asking what they want. Instead of following that path, we want to give people options and introduce fresh, new ways of communicating about health,” says Itumeleng Mafa, another member of Pusha Love. “Just look at how we launched this movement—not with speeches but with unexpected, high energy events. We had chalk art drawings with the Pusha Love logo, living statues showing up in unexpected places, and dance mobs appearing from nowhere to get us moving. People have already taken notice and know that Pusha Love is offering something different.”

Pusha Love will be active at many levels. The mass media program, which features the Ambassadors, includes a radio magazine program called Pusha Love Blomas, which will air every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 7:00pm on PCFM. Listeners can tune-in to hear the stories behind each Ambassador and add their voice to the conversation. Pusha Love also produces the S’moko Feela radio drama, which launched back in late 2012 and will rebroadcast and continue starting in February 2013. And over the coming months, Pusha Love will establish Youth Clubs to connect young people with the movement, engage communities and individuals in the conversation, and work with corporate clients to promote healthy options for their employees. “Eventually, Pusha Love will be everywhere so people should be on the lookout for opportunities to join the movement. They can also stay connected by following us on Facebook” says Ms. Phomane.

Officially launched on January 21, Pusha Love is a production of a consortium of local organizations and agencies that have been working in different areas for years but wanted to try something new. “We informally call ourselves the ‘House of Pusha Love’ because just like a family living under one roof, we couldn’t have done something this big or this ambitious alone,” says Pusha Love member Morongoe Masilo. “But in the end, it’s the Basotho who join the movement that make it what it is,” she added. Pusha Love is funded through a grant from USAID and works in partnership with the Lesotho Ministry of Health.

Press contact: Manthati Phomane

Phone: +266 5913 7918

In-box at: pushaloveblomas@gmail.com