PRESS ROOM
KERUS UPDATES
COURAGE FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Nearly 70 people attended the recent It Takes Courage! Training, held October 16th-19th, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The four-day training event brought together a dynamic group of Christian leaders and educators, all committed to bringing a message of life, hope, and health to youth.
Training focused on the themes of the It Takes Courage! Youth Curriculum—creating a vision for life, building healthy relationships, making wise decisions, and preventing HIV/AIDS. Dr. Marcia Ball, Dr. Jennie Cerullo, and Kerus Faculty Member Dr. Jim Judge, of Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University, equipped participants to guide youth through the 16-lesson curriculum. Each team left the conference with renewed vision, courage, and an action plan for implementing the curriculum through their ministries and communities.
The conference was co-sponsored by Kerus Global Education, Trans World Radio, Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Collaboration, Association of Christian Schools International, International Bible Society, and Medical Ambassadors International.
FIRST SWAZILAND PASTORS’ VISION CONFERENCE A HUGE SUCCESS!
Kerus is pleased to report that we just completed our first Pastors’ Vision Conference in Swaziland Oct. 23-25, as part of a joint “Be Faithful” project with Trans World Radio (TWR). Some 80 pastors attended the highly successful event, held at the Thokoza Anglican Conference Centre in Mbabane, the capital city of Swaziland. The conference was sponsored and coordinated locally by Voice of the Church (VOC), TWR’s in-country partner organization.
Joining Dr. Cerullo and Dr. Ball as facilitators was Kerus Faculty Member Dr. Johan Mostert. The two-and-a-half day conference focused on educating, equipping and empowering pastors in the country to more effectively serve as change agents and opinion leaders in their communities and congregations in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Swaziland, a small country in southern Africa slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey, has the dubious distinction of owning the world’s worst HIV prevalence rate—42.6 percent among women ages 25-49 tested in antenatal clinics (2004 statistics). The conference, along with two other regional conferences to be held in the country next spring, is part of a USAID-funded effort to address partner reduction in an effort to curb the country’s raging epidemic. The It Takes Courage! Pastors Vision Confence was selected by Trans World Radio for the one-year project. Dr. Ball and Dr. Cerullo will also consult with TWR on incorporating relevant and medically-accurate messages to be aired via VOC’s nationwide FM radio network.
