LWF Global Training for young leaders, Nairobi, Kenya

‘CHANGE, WE CAN.’ It’s not about the campaign slogan of Barack Obama, but about what 14 African youths believe in after taking a week-long training program in Nairobi.

After the training taken place in Asia, this time it comes to Africa. We have friends from a number of Lutheran churches in Africa - Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Ethiopia, D.R. Congo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, South Africa and Kenya.

The main focus of the program is to empower youths to lead and contribute activiely and meaniningly in church and society. The best way to learn is by practising it. During the program, every participants have been trained and working very hard in designing a project to be carried out at home.

I still remember during the project planning, we presented our vision and plans for our projects, challenge each other with passion, advise each other so that our projects can become more feasible.

I have listened to many of those inspiring projects. Examples like educating youths about HIV and AIDS, drug abuse; training for young women to equip them with skills to earn a living, establishing a children’s church  with a vision to counsel chidren who had been sexually abused, providing counselling services to youths facing problems like HIV and AIDS…… just to name a few.

LWF is going to provide them with a seed fund to start the project. For the rest everyone will have to get how to get support from relevant parties.

Yes, we are just young. True, perhaps we don’t have much resources at our disposal. Sure, we know there will be countless challenges ahead. But we do believe that the passion God has given us really count. We are ready to accept the responsiblity God has entrusted to us.

Surely, I will share with you once I got some news from my friends about how the projects have been doing.