2007 Report – Youth & Women’s HIV/AIDS Workshops

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

The escalating number of people infected by HIV/AIDS in the church and local communities prompted the Kakhany’Okusha Zion Church (KZC) leaders to organize a workshop where women leaders in the church were trained to on how to love and care for the people in the church and community who are living with HIV and AIDS.

Kukhany’Okusha Zion Church (KZC)
Swaziland

A separate workshop was held at the same location to educate youth in the community.

Women’s Workshop

The Women Leaders workshop was held at the Mbabane church youth center in Mbabane November 15 – 17, 2007. Women converged from the three regions of Kukhany’Okusha in Swaziland.

The Lady Bishop S. Dlamini welcomed the women and encouraged them to learn and take the workshop seriously because women, who often are caregivers, are directly confronted with the situation of HIV and AIDS. He also thanked the women for attending in large numbers and was optimistic that there would be changes in the churches with regard to love and caring for the infected and affected.

The objectives of the workshop were:

To train and empower women on HIV/AIDS-related issues
To train them on home-based care and support to those living with HIV
To educate them on mother to child HIV prevention
To sensitize and teach women on the administration of estates
To train them on leadership skills and devise a system to support the church’s pastors
To train women on entrepreneurship in order to be financially empowered and help the orphaned and vulnerable children

Youth Workshop

The youth workshop was held on November 28, 2007 and focused on:

Awareness of HIV and AIDS
Opening the lines of communication between parents and children
The importance of HIV and AIDS testing
Uniting the KZC youth in Swaziland
Life skills

Workshop facilitators faced several challenges during the workshop due to financial limitations. However, the workshop was an overall success. One participant said, I enjoyed most the empowerment of the youth in the face of HIV and AIDS. When is another workshop going to be hosted?

The following must take place in order for the program to continue:

Regional workshops to disseminate HIV/AIDS information to all young people of the KZC in Swaziland
Development of an HIV-Awareness Club for KZC Youth
Decentralize responsibilities to all young people in the various church branches
Partake in National events aimed to fight HIV and AIDS
Assist the communities around our churches in the eradication of HIV/AIDS and poverty
Build a strong network for youth within the church branches.