08.02.2024

"We Train the Facilitators."

Participants are especially trained to deal with trauma and its consequences in church and church related contexts. Photo by: EPR

It should actually have started much earlier: Planning for this course had been underway since 2017. The United Evangelical Mission, its member church EPR* and PIASS University in Butare, Rwanda, had jointly developed a curriculum. The funding was sorted out, they could have started - and then the pandemic happened. Because physical presence is so important in this matter, UEM, EPR and PIASS together decided to put the programme on hold.

Until last year: the first course for "Trauma Healing Facilitators" began in November 2023 with 14 participants from Rwanda and two from the DR Congo. It runs for a year in a total of three sections, each lasting several weeks. The participants are pastors or involved in youth and social work, and an electrician has also signed up for the programme.

Together they learn how to guide and support healing processes after trauma and how to look for solutions with those affected. The curriculum consists of 60% theory and 40% practice, taught by lecturers from Rwanda, Germany and the USA.

Godwin Ampony, Head of the Diaconia Department, says about the aim of the workshop: "We want to empower people to deal with the trauma that exists in their community or school. This includes recognising them and being able to identify them as such. And then it's about providing qualified support for the processing and healing."

The course focuses on the psychological and socio-cultural conditions of trauma and their healing processes, gender and generational issues as well as transformation processes and counselling strategies.

After completing the course, participants will be able to work as certified Trauma Healing Facilitators in their respective contexts.

*EPR = Église Presbyterienne du Rwanda (Presbyterian Church in Rwanda)