First workshop in Malawi completed

 

These past three days I’ve had the joy and privilege of delivering a 360Life workshop to a select group of 13 members of Good News Global Malawi. Those present comprised the senior leaders of GNG in this beautiful country, and some other key prison chaplains and volunteers. There are so many more who wanted to be part of the training, but lack of budget got in the way, and so the focus instead was on really training up these few so that they are empowered to go out and disseminate the knowledge more widely.

There are a number of key take-aways from the 360Life training but this time round the one that really stood out as filling a massive gap in local knowledge and provision is an exploration of the links between mental health issues and trauma, and how to practise a more trauma-informed approach to ministry. This is obviously something that applied to the GNG folks, but there were also teachers from the college complex where the training was delivered coming in to ask if I could deliver the training to them, and one participant who is an ex-soldier said how much the security forces across the country also need it.

For the participants of this training, who spend so much time going into prisons and ministering to the inmates, many of whom demonstrate all sorts of mental health issues and challenging behaviours, this opportunity to explore things from a trauma-informed perspective was a real eye-opener and thought-provoker. I felt so incredibly humbled as I listened to them share about the conditions in the prisons, and the circumstances that they have to face, as well as the realities of life for the prisoners themselves. It is not unusual for 500 prisoners to be sharing a cell designed for 50, and as a result to have to sleep sitting up. And for hundreds to be trying to access one lavatory. Suicide rates are increasing at an alarming rate, both amongst prisoners and prison officers. Many prisoners experience several years waiting in prison before their case is heard, even if they are then found to be innocent, or with no charge to face.

The folk that I have spent the past few days with are an amazing bunch of people. I am in awe of what they do, as they live out this calling that they have on their lives. I pray that the training that I have been able to give, and the knowledge that I have been able to share, will have long-lasting and wide-reaching positive impacts, on them, on their families, on their colleagues, and on those whom they serve in the prisons.

 

Here are a few of the comments made in the evaluation that I think sum up how well received the training was:

‘The 360Life training was one of a kind and was just cool. It is very useful in the sense that it has enlightened me highly about mental health related issues. I am no longer the same and my ministry will no longer be the same again as I am going out very informed.’

 

‘The 360Life training is very informative and has helped me to open my mind to know more about mental health. After going through trauma healing subject, 360 has taken me deeper into knowing more of a person and how I can handle cases through counselling and guidance.

It will help to change my ministry in the sense that the new approach will be different from the past. I will be going back to prison well informed and knowledgeable.’

 

‘The training has been transforming and changing. The way I see people with problems with mental issues now is different. I am now more of a help to them than being judging.

I am going to use the material in my ministry and I hope that by the help of God more are going to be healed mentally.’

 

Lifting up prayers for the participants as they return to their homes and prepare to put the training into practice. Lifting up prayers for Malawi – the warm heart of Africa, but struggling so much with mental health issues, and a massive lack of resources to deal with it. And lifting up prayers that one day I’ll be able to return, for longer, to deliver more of the training to more of those who so desperately want it.

 

Teaching in Malawi

 I've 360Life training to various audiences, visiting some CRED partners, and supporting a small team of adults who are coming to Uganda on a voluntourism week.

Tomorrow is the start of a 3-day 360Life workshop that I’m delivering here in Lilongwe, capital of Malawi. It’s for prison chaplains who are part of the Malawian branch of Good News Global, an international charity that seeks to take the gospels into prisons across the world, through word and deed, and I’ll write more about that as it progresses. But today I had a conversation which left me marvelling yet again at just indebted the world is to teachers, and the incredible work that they do in our society.

Whilst in Lilongwe I’m staying with McDonald and Catherine. McDonald is the Malawi national training director for Good News Global, and for whom I’m delivering the 3-day workshop. Catherine is his wife, and she works as a primary school teacher for primary 1 class in the local school. As we chatted, I asked Catherine a bit about her work and the realities of being a teacher in a government school. Her response left me dumbfounded!

Numbers wise, Catherine has 159 students in her class. Yes, that’s right – 159! I had to check three times to make sure that I wasn’t misunderstanding, but that was the number she kept giving me – 159. She did then say that the school have kindly given her a partner teacher, so now there are just 80 in her class, but even so – 80 kids in one class!

I asked how big is the classroom? Apparently, it’s normal size, but no desks as there isn’t room for desks, so all the children sit in rows on the floor. I asked about marking work – ‘oh I do it as we go along’ she said, ‘so that none of the children get left behind’.

I then asked if her class is an anomaly and if the others are all smaller sizes and more manageable – no, apparently each of the 7 year groups in the school is a similar size. So we are talking about schools that have thousands of pupils in them. And the government is doing nothing to try and ease the pressure – no campaign to rapidly build more schools, or train lots of extra teachers, just carry on as is.

The school day is 0730 – 1230, so I wondered if a shift system could be adopted with some children doing morning school and others doing afternoon school to reduce class sizes. Apparently that’s not likely to happen as most of the teachers do private tuition in the afternoon to children on parents who have the financial resources to pay for a tutor to come and supplement the learning of the morning. So the gap between have’s and have-not’s is just going to get wider.

I have always admired teachers for the incredible work that they do – giving tirelessly to support students in their learning and in their development as individuals, as well as all of the pastoral and extracurricular activities that are required of them. I have many friends who are teachers, and I know how hard they work, how much their family life suffers during term time when all focus is on keeping up to date with the massive pressures and workloads.

But today, my admiration went up another notch. Teaching 159 students day in day out – that takes dedication to the growth of the next generation to a new level.

The following photos are taken at the school where Catherine works (on a Sunday, hence lack of students), and includes some of the educational paintings on the walls of the school, so that learning never stops.