Children and Family Breakdown - The Tearfund International ...

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BY GLADYS MWITI, FOUNDER Churches should be supportive communities, not only for the membership but also for the geographical location within which they are placed. CHILDREN AT RISK GUIDELINES Oasis Counselling Centre and Training Institute Nairobi, Kenya ORGANISATION Oasis Counselling Centre and Training Institute is an indigenous professional counselling and training organisation founded by Gladys and Gershon Mwiti in January 1990. Gladys is a Counselling Psychologist and her husband, Gershon, is a Civil Engineer, called to Evangelism 18 years ago. The rest of the Oasis personnel include a full-time staff of eight, a part-time training team of up to 25 professional trainers and a Board of eight. CONTEXT Although Oasis began as a small organisation in Nairobi, Kenya, the work now is appreciated by many in various parts of Africa and beyond. The motivation for such a ministry came from the vast need in the Continent today with closely-bound communities unravelling. As the extended family disintegrates and communities scatter through people mobility and urbanisation, structures that once held people together are giving way. The Church is then left as the main social group around which people can seek belonging. However, many churches preach the Gospel but fail to link God’s Word with a practical application for daily living. Many churches also do not realise that they should be supportive communities, not only for the membership but also for the geographical location within which they are placed. Oasis desired from the onset to work with leadership and the community to offer skills of care and counselling, especially for the most vulnerable among us – the children and youth of Africa. Oasis tries to fill this vacuum with training seminars for church leadership, community leadership, school heads, employers, married couples and parents, raising awareness about some of the social challenges facing the people. There are also invitations to schools, churches and the community, speaking on pertinent issues. For example, school Parent Teacher Associations often request speakers on parent-child relationships, child motivation, how to help children handle exam stress, use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, career choices for children, etc. Churches will request seminars on marriage and the family, retirement, financial management and stewardship, HIV prevention, management and care, etc. VOLUME 1: CHILDREN AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN 48
Our approach to counselling in Africa has been an emphasis on prevention versus treatment. CHILDREN AT RISK GUIDELINES Mr and Mrs Mwiti believe that Africa lacks transformed people. Many may be equipped with university degrees but experience a vacuum in terms of personal values and relational skills. Integrity, persistence, self-sacrifice, self-control, personal discipline, striving towards excellence, individual maturity, morality, caring for others, courage to be different, faith, work ethics, transparency, patriotism, loyalty, patience, tolerance, wisdom, and other values that we lack in the Continent are not acquired in University lecture halls. They are a heritage passed on by leaders to followers, parents to children, pastors to the flock. Yet, when many leaders themselves are as ignorant as those they lead, where will salvation come from? DEMONSTRATING GOOD PRACTICE Professional counselling at the centre Professional counsellors here see individuals (men, women, young people and children) couples and families – all with various psychological, emotional, relational and behavioural concerns. Others just come with a desire to enrich their lives, while some visit the centre for pre-marital counselling. Preventive counselling/training Mrs Mwiti’s approach to counselling in Africa from the onset has been an emphasis on prevention versus treatment. She is convinced that many are ‘destroyed for lack of knowledge’ (Hosea 4:4). She believes that equipping and teaching people will arrest the social disintegration that is currently facing Africa. Annual seminars target the following: ■ Regional Training Seminar for Individuals Working with Children at Risk. Sadly, we realised in the early 1990s that many people working with children in orphanages, street children programmes, residential homes for children with AIDS, unaccompanied children in situations of war and conflict, etc had no training in caring for these children. We are seeking to fill this gap. ■ Regional Training Seminar for Co-ordinators of Women Development Programs. Our concern is that many organisations in Africa borrow a model of development labelled Women Empowerment. Projects sponsored by the West emphasise that women must control the finances and be the decision-makers in those projects, but this philosophy can do more harm than good. All the work is done by women. They mix cement, construct the zero grazing units, carry stones and timber, feed the dairy cows, deliver milk at 3am and do all the back-breaking work. At the same time, these same women continue to grow food, collect firewood and feed their families. The men and their sons are not involved. VOLUME 1: CHILDREN AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN 49
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