Well, we have more exciting news!
Last Monday and Tuesday, we ran the next workshop in the series, this time on HIV prevention and home-based care for the bed-bound patient. As is customary, we sat for a progress meeting before moving on with the new topics.
The reports were so encouraging!
Every team represented was active in their communities delivering the lessons that were taught last month. In fact, the 29 who were trained multiplied the training to 793 other people, who attended at least one of the lessons. Amazing!
The testimonies about the impact were also hugely encouraging. Three in particular stood out.
- In Pagor village, there were many people who were HIV-positive and had stopped taking their medicines and were not open with their status. Following the training, many came out openly with their status and were directed to the health centre where they can start receiving ARV drugs to help keep their immune systems in tact.
- In Aluka village, there was a young man who was HIV-positive and had lost hope in life. He stopped doing farm work, and sat drinking away his days, becoming loss in the stupor of drunken forgetfulness. One of the trained peer educators, named Kennedy, sought him out following the training and counselled him. The man claimed he was planning to commit suicide. Because of Kennedy reaching out to him, he came to church the next Sunday, heard the gospel, and accepted Christ into his heart. He stopped drinking and followed Kennedy's advice by going to the health centre to be enrolled for ARV drugs. He came back and found Kennedy and said, "Thank you so much, and may God bless you!"
- In Agora village, there was a woman who was touched by the community training. She felt it matched the difficulties she was facing in her home, which included domestic violence at the hands of her husband. She too was planning to commit suicide. Because the training impressed her so much, she reached out to the peer educators for help, and invited them to her home. They came and counselled the woman and her family. There is a reported increased level of peace in the home.
We praise God for the privilege of seeing such abundant fruit. We're so thankful that the peer educators have not sat on their training, but went out and volunteered themselves to teach the community. And we're thankful to NUMM and their partnership to make this workshop happen.
May God continue to take our "2 fish and 5 loaves" and multiply to even more!