It was a memorable morning at the refugee camp.
I heard them singing before I arrived.
Training was to start at 9:30. As I rode my bike along the straw fence-line their melodies were audible.
Turning through the gate I saw their colourful toobs1 dancing with hands clapping and legs moving to the rhythms. No instruments, just voices. Joyfully singing thanks to their Lord. It was 9:15am, but they had come early to gather and sing. I unstrapped my little man from the bike seat and we went to join in.
These women have gone through a lot. Many have lost homes and children. They have suffered through harsh conditions and hunger. They have fled home and been separated from family with little or no community. But here they were singing of how good God was. This was a demonstration of authentic faith.
As I remember these beautiful women and their songs, I am filled with joy.
Once weekly these women gather for training. We call them Community Health Evangelists (‘CHEs’ pronounced CHAYs). Church leaders chose five women from each of their congregations to represent them in the community and share health messages with their neighbours. We had 100 CHEs in total. After initial training they were graduated into the community to share holistic health messages with their neighbours.
A joyful message. Redefining Health.
Within a CHE project, health is defined not just as physical health, but also emotional and social and spiritual health. At the core is the biblical concept of Shalom – peace, harmony and right relationship – in all spheres of life. This includes shalom in one’s relationship with God, oneself, creation, and society.
At a weekly CHE training like this one, we teach the CHEs lessons on basic health care and disease prevention alongside social, emotional and spiritual health lessons. We teach the simple truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ and what it looks like to bring His Kingdom to our communities.
Up to 100 women gather weekly under a thatch roof to first sing and celebrate their faith, then learn the weekly lessons. They then go out and share these lessons with 10-15 families or a mother’s group that they coordinate.
Joyful testimonies: The message multiplied
The testimonies have been coming in. One joyful CHE returned to share news that a family she has been teaching had a child with diarrhea that they managed at home with the simple oral rehydration solution recipe that we had taught them and so the family didn’t need to go to the clinic nor take unnecessary antibiotics.
Another vibrant CHE requested 5 bibles for those new to her group who were hearing about Jesus for the first time. A community member who had benefited from the CHEs lessons shared that now their small community was much closer, and neighbours who she previously felt unable to talk to were welcoming her into their homes.
As I remember these beautiful women and their passion to share the love of Christ with their community, I think to myself, this is what authentic faith looks like.
Now it is well over 2 years since we first ‘graduated’ these CHEs out into the community to share the messages of health with their neighbours. They continue to meet weekly and learn new lessons to share with others and in this way make disciples of their communities.
CHE is a simple message of love for God and one’s neighbor. It is community led. Those who know how to sing Hallelujah (literally ‘Praise the Lord’) are teaching their neighbours how also to sing Halllelujah. The light of this message of living hope is growing brighter through out the refugee camp. It is a light that cannot be extinguished even by death, because He who is the face of this message, our Lord Jesus, overcame the power of the grave.
Please pray for these CHEs and the churches behind them and the training team who continue to teach them. As they entrust these messages to reliable people who will be able to train others, may we see the good news of the Kingdom of God spread to more families and bring more hope and more joy.
And also consider, how can I go and do likewise? How can I bring health to my neighbourhood. The simple message of love for God and ones neighbour is a message that breaks down walls and brings hope all around this globe.
Grace and joy dear sisters
Hope
Appendix
1. Toobs are long colourful pieces of material that the moutain women wrap around themselves
Hallelujah in the Mountains 