The church in Malawi is engaged in breaking the silence amongst religious leaders in order to fight the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Christian churches body, the Malawi Council of Churches, has said it is vital to deal with the marriage institution so that families can be enjoyed and morals be raised.

General Secretary Rev. Dr. Osborne Joda-Mbewe told participants at the onset of a three day workshop on religious leaders’ marriage counseling, that: “the family is a very important issue.”

“We want to strengthen the family institution. We want people to see the importance in their wives just as they recognize that in their sisters, wives and other relatives. Some people also see pleasure in assisting relatives’ children than their own,” he said.

In some families, he added, parents and relatives are the ones that run families on behalf of the husband and wife. This is causing countless problems in married homes. We should let couples run own families. Let the husband and wife come together to run their families – counselors should only come in to help achieve marriage bliss.

“We want you as religious leaders to go out to your congregations and communities and be exemplary by the end of this workshop. Remember to also exercise confidentiality as counseling is not about telling couples what to do. It is about providing an opportunity for others to choose a better option to making a better decision towards betterment of their lives,” he advised.

The Bible, added the MCC boss, is a number one tool in counseling. Make continued and informed reference from Bible scripture which is very helpful.

“The word of God transforms the human mind. Marriage is an incubator to morals – there is nothing to replace this. So learn from given stories, real experiences, which are part of good learning steps towards understanding our objectives,” he told the participants.

Joda-Mbewe also revealed the MCC strategy cross-involvement, and active participation. Facilitators are using a deep cutting book, “HIV and AIDS Training Manual for Churches: The Church Breaking the Silence” produced with the support of the National AIDS Commission (NAC). The pandemic bursting body is also supporting the workshops.

“Counseling teaches tolerance, encourages and builds. A certain degree of insanity is therefore important to make life better. David in the Bible used that technique to survive. Our role is not to go and disturb families but to build and strengthen them using the various avenues of our ministry,” said Joda-Mbewe.

The leaders are taught about human sexuality, gender and sex, sex and HIV and AIDS, behavioural change, and advocacy, among many other topics.

Over 30 participants drawn from Balaka district are participating. MCC is carrying out the trainings across the country.

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