Transforming Lives Part 1

As part of our ongoing work of building relationships and sharing skills with the people of Namibia I have been asked by several organizations to help them with certain areas of their programs. I have turned down more invitations than I have accepted because I do not have the time or the energy. But two programs have gotten my attention and I would like to share a little about each.

The first is Lifeline/Childline. This is an organization that provides training and counselling in many areas of life. They have 24 hour help lines and suicide prevention hotlines. They serve Namibia through personal growth training and training in counselling skills and gender transformation programs. This last project is the one I have been working on.

It was recognized several years ago that most, if not all of the HIV/AIDS money in Namibia was going to projects that focused on women and children. While this was helpful it was also found to not be extremely effective in slowing the spread of HIV. There are many reasons why these programs did not have the impact that was hoped for, but one particular reason is how culture views gender. In Southern Africa women, in general, have very few rights. There are rights that are written into the constitution and laws that protect women and children but their enforcement is inconsistent and they do not provide the level of confidence needed for women to exercise these rights. Another aspect of this problem is the rural nature of the county and cultural expectations that abound around gender. Women generally do not have control over their reproductive health. If a husband comes home and demands sex from his wife, she dare not refuse, even if she knows he is HIV positive, or that he engages in risky behaviours outside of their marriage. Rape of young girls is common as is a sort of soft prostitution, girls as young as 11 or 12 giving sexual favours for a cell phone or can of coke. One friend who works in the HIV field told me once that to slow the spread of HIV they should give every 12 year old girl a cell phone and unlimited minutes. But I digress...

As a way of trying to combat the problem of gender when dealing with HIV a program was developed that specifically targets men and boys and attempts to transform their understanding of gender and help them transform their communities. It is a great program called Engaging Boys and Men in Gender Transformation. The full program is available here as a pdf so have a look.

Lifeline/ Childline is one of the Namibian partners for this program. My involvement started when conversations began about writing supplement to the program that would be spiritual in nature. The spiritual supplement was intended to engage religious leaders in gender transformation, using the Bible as its key text. I was asked to be the lead author for the Supplement. Over several months I wrote and presented the supplement to groups of reviewers from Namibia. They provided helpful feedback and the drafting process continued. We did a 3 days pilot training using the supplement materials in late February and had wonderful feedback and a desire for the materials immediately. We are very close to the end of the process and hopefully the Supplement will be printed and distributed with the manual before the end of May. I am very proud of my involvement in this project and hope that this program has the effect of transforming lives.

The New Year

So three months is probably the longest time we have gone without a blog post and I am very sorry for the delay. It seems just like yesterday when we took the Christmas photo. So today I am going to try and catch everyone up with a few blog entries. Rather than one long story about everything from New Years to now I am going to try and break it up. This way if you don’t have an extra 3 hours to read our blog (which I know, without doubt is what you would do with an extra 3 hours) then you can just read an entry and then come back later for more.

Penny and I began the year in silence. It’s not because we didn’t have anyone to spend it with but because we decided to attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat in South Africa from December 31 to Jan 10. I cannot describe the feeling of New Years Eve standing in silence looking out over a beautiful valley outside of Cape Town and knowing what was happening all over the world. That the calendar was turning and that the same hosts were doing the same shows and that the same bars will filled with the same people toasting another year gone and hoping for the one to come. The entire 10 days was an extremely intense experience. It was at the same time one of the most difficult and rewarding experience of our life. Here is a photo of the retreat center and the area surrounding.


Both before and after the 10 days of silence Penny and I spent a few days in Cape Town just relaxing and reflecting on 2009. We got to spend some time and have dinner with our friends Bishop Garth Counsell, his wife Marion and their family. Garth is the Bishop of Table Bay (Cape Town). He and Marion stayed with us last year over Holy Week and we had so much fun. They are truly a blessing to us and have provided much good council. Penny and I drove both ways to Cape Town from Namibia (14 hours) so we had a lot of time to talk and reconnect. It was a wonderful time and a very needed break.

On our return home we decided to finally take the plunge again and get a dog. It had been two years since our last dog Scroungie had died. Since we have been unable to find spiritual directors in Namibia we decided to see what God might teach us through a new furry friend. So just a few weeks into the new year we went to the SPCA and adopted DeeOGee.He is an incredible dog and has helped us remember not to take everything so seriously.

Merry Christmas from Namibia

Alabama Episcopalian Article

Hi friends I know it is strange for us to have three posts so closely together. If you do not get a copy of the Diocesan newspaper from the Diocese of Alabama I ask that you go to this link and read the article written by Penny and myself about our time in Namibia.Peace, Jeremy Click here for Walking the Way of Christ in Namibia

Photos from the Training Program

Here are some photos from the training program.
Click here for photos from the last seminar of 2009.

Theological Training Program Student Interviews

Hi everyone thinks for your continued prayers and support. Here are the first videos from our students in the Theological Training Program.

More are on the way, including individual interviews from each of the students in these videos.

Sorry about the sound you may have to turn your speakers all the way up to hear them. Peace, Jeremy

Time Flies

I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since our last post. This will be a shorter update. I want to point out that I have added links to four news outlets in Namibia at the bottom of our Blog. You can take a look at all the goings on in Namibia and read all about the upcoming elections.

Our main source of local news is The Namibian. Click here to go to their site. Lately most of the news has been about the upcoming elections on November 27 and 28. There has been quite a bit of tension leading up to this election. SWAPO the main liberation party and head of government has been dealing with several challenges from rival parties and in some places violent confrontation has taken place. The former President Sam Nujoma, considered by some as the Father of the Country has been making some particularly violent statements about Germans (they should be shot in the face) and Americans and Brits (they should be hit in the head with hammers). It is all a way of inciting the electorate to passion. Many inside the country are keeping a close eye on the situation although there is no expectation of violence similar to Kenya last year or Zimbabwe.

Work is going well. We are preparing for stewardship season at the Cathedral and the Bishops visit is on All Saints. In a few weeks we have our St. George's Fair and Funday. Work with the clergy training is going well and a few weeks ago they had their first year exams. We are waiting hopefully for the results. I go back North the second week of December when the temps will be around 110, and malarial mosquitoes will be at their worst. Well I will send more later. I am now off to a training class for new Lay ministers for the Cathedral. Peace, J