News Flashes

Dear All

Healing the Wounds of Trauma Seminar in Burundi

I'd like to say a very big thank you to all who prayed for the Trauma Healing Training seminar in Bujumbura at the end of September. The Kirundi version of “Healing the Wounds of Trauma - How the Church Can Help ” that was published in 2007 was used as the basis for the sessions. The seminar went very well, and was clearly much appreciated. It was great to see God working at a personal level among the participants as well as equipping them with further understanding and skills to train and to help others.

There were 30 participants, about two-thirds of them pastors, including two representatives from each diocese, the heads of all the Bible Colleges, representatives of the Mothers' Union, police and army chaplains and staff members from the Provincial Office of the Anglican Church. One participant was keen to take a copy of recently published materials for helping children who have experienced trauma to translate / get translated into Kirundi. We were also able to track down some excellent AIDS education materials, already translated into Kirundi and dramatised on the radio, but not published in book form. During the final session the participants started to plan their next steps in using the materials and training they had received. Thanks to the generosity of a local church here, we were able to send a number of copies of the training manual in Kirundi with the police and army chaplains and back to each diocese to encourage their work in trauma healing in their own areas. We pray that God help each of them to turn their excitement into action in taking this forward.

God's peace settled over me before leaving the UK, and I felt tremendously excited about the opportunity. God makes the impossible possible!

Thank you so much.

Hilary

Hilary Warner

hilary.w@cogges.eclipse.co.uk