Empower Africa Program Director Frank Michael Tweheyo recently led a series of trainings in Nairobi, Kenya. He journeyed to three places: Teen Challenge headquarters, African Prime Leadership Training Institute and finally the Premier International University.
Here is Frank’s report for the first leg: a New Man, New Woman, New Life training at Teen Challenge.
Empower has been in partnership with Teen Challenge of Kenya for about 12 years, whereby we train and walk alongside these dear folks who are being rehabilitated from drug and alcohol addiction in the NMNWNL program.
Despite its name, Teen Challenge offers addiction rehabilitation to men and women of all ages (not just teenagers).
Over the years, graduates from Teen Challenge have testified that the NMNWNL program was pivotal in their turn around and the way they started looking at life and the future.
Many Teen Challenge graduates go on to very successful careers, becoming prominent in their professions. A case in point is Wendy, a lawyer, who constantly comes back to speak to the participants whenever we are at Teen Challenge, St. Paul’s University, African Prime Leadership Training Institute (APLETI), and so on. She is now leading recovery programs in Kenya and beyond.
In the first training, we met with women and men at Kiambu Teen Challenge Center and we took them through the NMNWNL manual. Elizabeth, Faith and Dr. Judith joined me to facilitate.
Dr. Judith , newly graduated with a PhD from African International University in Nairobi, has coordinated Empower activities in Rwanda, especially at East African Christian College (EACC), where she has worked as the Registrar.
Also joining us from outside as a participant was Dr. Sarah Njoroge, a psychologist and family therapist based in Nairobi. She was seconded and referred to us by Dr. Zablon Bundi, our partner for many years in Nairobi.
This particular group of Teen Challenge participants included professionals, business people, and other high-level personalities, which made the class quite engaging and produced rich and divergent discussions.
As we always do in this seminar, we asked the group to name the cultural burdens that both men and women bear in their society.
Burdens on Men. The groups mentioned:
- Men cannot show emotions; not expected to be a wimp or a sissy
- Men are expected to solve problems and to provide despite circumstances.
- In some cultures, men are expected to have more than one wife and so has to work hard to save enough money to pay the bride price.
Burdens on Women in the Kenyan cultures included (among others):
- The responsibility of rearing children
- The continuing cultural practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) even though it is technically against the law.
- The perspective of barrenness as a “curse,” rather than a medical situation (or a problem with the husband).
- Women are not allowed to have more than one husband (this was so funny, caused all of us to laugh for a long time).
The group also had a lot to say about the effects of foreign interference on African Cultures. These included:
- Loss of community values
- loss of mother tongue among the urban youth
- Changes in lifestyle such as clothing styles, food, and other family values
- Increasing divorce rates
- Rise in the number of single parents
Every time we have the training, I never fail to be amazed at how people believe that man and woman were cursed or that man and woman were not together in the garden when the woman was being tempted by the serpent.
As the group was discussing this, there was an uproar of objection. So we had everyone pull out their Bibles and read through Genesis 3, step by step, getting facts right from the pages of Scripture. And there is was: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Genesis 3:6).
It was gratifying to see participants finally agreeing with the Bible in that “aha” moment. It is always energizing to watch. Such was the whole program, as participants continued to discover great truths about patriarchy and dominance, submission, headship and the mystery of marriage.
Here’s what some of the participants had to say:
- Ronah: God’s original plan for human beings included equality for man and woman, both dominating and ruling God’s creation, naked and unashamed. However, this plan was disturbed by the fall, and from the fall patriarchy and the big-man mentality began to rule. In Jesus, redemption buys us back to God’s original plan and through Him we become a new man, new Woman and we enjoy new life. She said it was a time of learning, unlearning and re-learning.
- Paul: He learned that a woman is not a servant, but an ‘Ezer kenegdo, meaning a strong help, face to face with a man. He was so overwhelmed as an elderly man, and pledged to go back to make his wife a “queen,” upon completing his visit at TC. He was also surprised to learn that man and woman were not cursed. He was happy to know the biblical truth of submission.
- Valdo observed that people need to actively (not passively) study the Bible in order not to overlook some truths in scripture.
- He asked the facilitating team to make a video presentation and send it to all social medias for everyone to know these truths
The new Director of Teen Challenge, Rev. Alex Njogu, who officiated at the closing and giving of certificates to participants, appreciated the participants’ hard work and congratulated them for undergoing a very transformative training program, the NMNWNL.
He thanked Empower for being a consistent partner over the years, and appreciated the NMNWNL program as one of those pivotal programs that contribute to meaningful change of the students who come to the TC.
He called on Empower to always consider TC as the contribution to the students is invaluable!
Note: FGM/C (female genital mutilation and cutting) is still a huge problem in Kenyan communities, especially in certain regions, even though it was officially outlawed in 2011, and the government is fighting it. Despite the fact that 92 percent of women and 93 percent of men aged 15–49 believe that FGM/C should be stopped, it remains a culturally cherished practice among the Pokot, Turkana, Samburu, and other communities.