Healing Together

A Facilitator’s Resource for Ecumenical Faith and Community-Based Counselling

Fulata Lusungu Moyo

2019

Up to 80 percent of Africans are estimated to be traumatized as a result of violence, poverty, disease, natural disasters, and other causes. As a continent where the majority of the population are young people, Africa’s adolescent population is particularly affected. Along with common causes of trauma, youth also experience many other struggles related to growing up. But this trauma often goes unaddressed, not only because sexual and gender-based violence become normalized, but also because of the lack of specific services and awareness.

This book addresses this lack. It is an important gift to enhance the role of churches to provide wholeness.

Specs: 176 pages; size; paper; perfect; 4-colour cover

ISBN: 978-2-8254-1706-5

Shelving/Topics: Religion/Health

Rights: World, all languages

Download full document: Healing Together: A Facilitator’s Resource for Ecumenical Faith and Community-Based Counselling

A Tool for Dealing with Trauma

This facilitator’s manual was developed from a context where the causes of trauma include conflict, poverty, sexual and gender-based violence, and disease. It highlights God’s loving gift of reconciliation, gives hope, and forms the basis for a Christian ministry of accompaniment, transformation and healing.

It was produced in a collaboratively with the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), Council of Churches of Sierra Leone (CCSL), and South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) with funding from Bread for the World and Presbyterian Church (USA).

This resource aims to address some of the major questions asked by wounded people:

•   What is the value of my life?

•   Who can I talk to about my struggles without being judged?

•   What is the purpose and worth of my life amidst such suffering?

•   How can I live without giving up hope?

•   Where is God in the suffering I am facing?

From the foreword by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit:

This process of walking, praying, and working together for trauma trans¬formation and healing is framed within the WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. While the reality of trauma is nothing to be celebrated, God’s loving gift of reconciliation – with Godself, other people, and the earth – gives us hope and forms the basis for our Christian ministry of transformation and healing. So, we celebrate this gift, and we acknowledge the people’s agency and resilience that transform pain and bring healing. Visiting our wounds and acknowledging their existence lead to our commitment to all processes of jus¬tice and peace. Our commitment must therefore include accompaniment of the wounded as well as advocacy for change.

The focus in this manuscript on Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan means that the diverse causes of the wounds include conflict (armed, ethnic, political, and post-conflict), poverty, sexual and gender-based violence, and disease including Ebola, HIV, and AIDS. Conflict includes that which uses religion and cultural identity as social markers of belonging and not belonging.

Healing Together

WCC Publications

Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy (EHAIA)