08036
January 14, 2008
‘Only the beginning’
HIV/AIDS project seeks to train, educate Malawians using the arts
Phyllis Wezeman, pictured here with two Malawi women, is actively working on a project to educate Malawians about HIV/AIDS via the arts. Photo by Stephanie Wezeman LOUISVILLE – Presbyterian Phyllis Wezeman and a small group of committed volunteers have a dream that lives in the small African nation of Malawi can be dramatically changed by bringing together HIV/AIDS education and the arts.
It’s a dream that believes everything from creative writing and storytelling to dance and games can teach and transform those involved with the disease that has so devastated the African continent.
Wezeman, director of Christian nurture at First Presbyterian Church of South Bend, IN, is eagerly trying to live into that dream in 2008. Just recently she received a $15,000 grant to get the project up and running.
“Creative Methods for HIV and AIDS Education” will train leaders in the Nkhoma Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) who will, in turn, train representatives from every congregation in the synod.
The training focuses on HIV/AIDS education using a range of creative activities, including drama, games, photography, music and storytelling. It will take place over a three-week period later this year, and is expected to reach some 400 people in all.
With the HIV/AIDS crisis, “not everyone is going to be infected, but everyone … is affected,” said Wezeman, the author of Creating Compassion: Activities for Understanding HIV/AIDS. Those 400 people trained will be the resource people within the presbyteries and the educators within their congregations, she said.
Wezeman first became acquainted with Malawi via a group of Malawi emigrants who moved to South Bend and began attending First Presbyterian Church. Subsequently the church formed its FPC Malawi Association, and has developed a partnership with a village within Nkhoma Synod, among other projects.
The HIV/AIDS training project specifically builds on earlier trainings Wezeman conducted in Malawi in 2006 and 2007, and is being facilitated through the Nkhoma Synod Community HIV/AIDS Program.
“The impact of the work started this year (2006) is remarkable and it is necessary to continue with a training program for both ministers and HIV and AIDS staff and volunteers working in the synod,” the Rev. Winston R. Kawale, general secretary of Nkhoma Synod, said following that first training.
From those first sessions, “people had started groups. One man had started a support group for widows,” Wezeman said. “Another was going into schools.”
So, with that excitement, “I said let’s dream. What can we do that could make a major impact, and let’s not take the easiest route,” she said.
Wezeman and several others with a heart for Africa have been working on everything from outlining the training schedule to figuring out how to fund the initiative. The project is not an endeavor of First Presbyterian Church, but Wezeman does have its support.
“I have a list of probably about eight to 10 people who have indicated an interest” in helping, both from inside First Presbyterian Church and outside the church, she said.
Volunteer Cheryl Taylor, who has ties to First Church and 15 years of experience in development, has been working closely with Wezeman on fundraising and establishing a foundation under which the project can operate.
“I just felt that I wanted to give my time to a cause that really was close to my heart,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of funds to give, but I have time … and I can help raise money.”
Wezeman estimates it will take about $60,000 to implement the program this year, and said the $15,000 donation just received from a former member of First Presbyterian will get things going.
“I think part of our challenge as Christians is that we ask, but we don’t believe it can happen,” she said. “At this point I have no doubt that it will happen.”
And Wezeman, who also serves as the co-convener of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related Malawi Mission Network, and her group isn’t stopping with just 2008.
“I see us going back again and again and again,” she said. “It’s just scratching the surface.”
She’s also already gotten an inquiry from another CCAP synod about implementing the training program within its congregations. And a partnership is developing with educators from the Museums of Malawi, who are already using cultural practices to teach Malawians about various health and safety issues.
“This is only the beginning,” Wezeman said.
For more information about the HIV/AIDS training project, call (574) 234-4159, or email. |
