Training With Our Panua Friends
By Evanne Mines
We have just finished several days of training with our Panua friends. On Monday we held a workshop dealing with grief and trauma and were able to offer some personal counseling, HIV training, and several activities to help the youth deal with the grief in their lives.
Tuesday was an all-day workshop for our 10 mentors and 30 youth leaders. Dr. Judy taught about healthy relationships, stress, and tools for self-care. Certificates of completion were given out at the end and were a huge hit. Wednesday was a follow-up workshop with 26 more of our Panua youth.
I have learned so much about their lives and what they struggle with. In some ways they are just like us – they hope for a loving relationship, a job where they will be successful, and a community in which to belong. Where we differ is that they have a huge gap in starting life – no family, extreme poverty and not much hope for the future. This is where Panua steps in. We “expand” their horizons – become their family, assist them in their vocation of choice and instill hope all in the name of God.
I feel blessed to have experienced this time in Naivasha and hope to come back again.