Family Champions Training Feedback

A team of Joanna, Douglas and Letson from Harare and Winston, Susan (Mr and Mrs Nyams) and Khumbulani from Bulawayo spent an intensive week of training with one and a half days at each of Chiweshe, Kaitano and Dotito (Mashonaland Province, Zimbabwe). That meant travelling in the afternoon to the next place on some interesting roads. The report speaks of “the very long and dreaded journey to Kaitano!” Thank God that he watched over them and kept them safe.

The Family Champion couples attended with a few others from each congregation. At every station we taught on: Leave, Cleave and Become one; Domestic violence; Gender based violence and its effects; HIV and the family; HIV, gender and culture; HIV basic facts and Sexual Purity. The response was really encouraging; they had a lot of questions. In the evening, the men had a bonfire and had some time with Mr Nyams to talk about their questions.

Teaching some topics, such as sex and sexuality, in the rural areas can be quite challenging because of our culture, and we faced this in Kaitano as we had a lot of older people in the audience. We actually had one old man walk out of the sessions a couple of times! Mr Nyams later had a talk with him and he understood why the teachings had to be done. In Dotito, which has a fairly young population, we did not have problems in teaching our material as they easily received it.

All in all, it was an amazing and fruitful week. God was really faithful, the people loved the training and it was such a pleasure to be a part of what God is doing in families in these areas.
We will give more news of what the family Champions are doing next month but they are very much out on their own and need our support in prayer.