The Village Connection

Meeting with the Sayéré village leadership

Greetings again from the Central African Republic! Thanks again for all your prayers for us this week! J.P. and I got back late yesterday from our trip into the villages up north. It was a very profitable trip.

We also took with us Edmond, who is employed here with ICDI to do training in "True Love Waits." We were able to introduce to two villages, Pama & Sayéré, the basic principles of village partnerships, where churches, groups, or individuals in the U.S. partner with villages to see community and spiritual development happen. We had very good meetings with village leaders there about the partnerships. In asking them what their basic needs for their villages are, both at Pama and Sayéré the first thing out of their mouths was education of their children.

Pama

For example, here is a picture of the current school building at Pama. The Director of the school told me that he and the other teacher instruct 280 students each day in six grade levels. Because of the lack of space, they cycle through the day bringing different grades in at different times.

Also included here is the school "building" at Sayéré. It was interesting to me that both villages saw education as a greater need than clean water, or health care, or agricultural projects, although all of those needs were mentioned also later in our times together. We hope to have Edmond do some follow up meetings with the two villages so that they can ask any questions that may have come up since our meetings about what the partnerships will look like...

Another great thing that happened on the trip is that Edmond and Pastor Tolzombo were able to do two presentations of "True Love Waits", a biblically-based AIDS initiative that has been promoted by GBIM and ICDI ove the last year or so. It’s very interesting what you learn when you go into these villages.

Edmond (in purple shirt) using an illustration in the "True Love Waits" presentation

For example, at the beginning of the presentation, Edmond asked some diagnostic questions about sexual activity in the villages. In Sayéré, a village of about 500 people, he asked them, "At what age do boys and girls begin sexual encounters?" The response was incredible. They said that for boys it is about 10 years old, and for girls it is 9 years old! OK, get this picture. We’re talkin’ real bush here! I mean, the road has one truck that does commercial ventures on it regularly every other day! Occasionally, another truck comes along, but obviously it’s not a very high traffic area.

Pastor Tolzombo shares a point in TLW at Sayéré

And yet in a small bush village, sexual activity for boys and girls starts at or before the age of 10! Is it any wonder that AIDS is a major issue in sub-Saharan Africa?! In Pama, a much larger village of just under 5,000, the stats were about the same. Another question was, "How many sexual partners does a boy or a girl have on a regular basis before they are married?" In Sayéré, they said the average was about one a month. In Pama, they said that boys probably had three a month, and girls two a month! "True Love Waits" is designed for these kinds of places. Edmond & Pastor Tolzombo did a great job of presenting the case against this kind of sexual activity and the case for abstinence until marriage.

You could tell that in both villages, the presentation was very effective. Pastor Tolzombo will do follow up with clubs for those who are interested in staying pure until marriage. Please pray for a strong commitment from those who indicated a need to stay pure, and for the Lord to strengthen them against temptation and the obviously dangerous trends of their culture.

Thanks again for praying! - Pastor Tom
Thursday, March 8