Churches Inc in Sierra Leone - Day 5
Through the Roof has a Churches Inc team in Sierra Leone for the next ten days. They'll be bringing a message of inclusion for disabled people, and working with the church and leaders there to help communities welcome, encourage, and support disabled people. Please pray for them on their trip - we'll bring you blog posts from them as often as they're able to send them through. Here's the team's report from the fifth day of the trip.
Today we held a workshop about autism and challenging behaviour. We had a very good turn out, especially as the rain makes travel more difficult. There were 29 people, 25 parents/care-givers and 4 teachers who had been invited by the parent of the child. It was a very positive meeting. Lots of participation sharing both the challenges of autism and also what we love about these children. Some parents were listening so carefully as they realised they are not alone in what they are facing. Evelyn who works for our partner and has a son with autism, Evrique, strongly encouraged the parents to accept their child and ignore others perceptions. One mother said, 'the power of life and death is in the tongue. We need to speak life to our children, that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, not negative words that destroy'. A father who has been struggling to accept his son and thinking of divorcing his wife to leave them came to the meeting, which is his first time coming to meet with other parents and publicly acknowledge his son. This was a very good day and we thank God for all that took place!
