Masvingo- INERELA+ Zimbabwe, a Christian organisation that works with religious leaders, youths in congregation, key populations, orphans and other vulnerable groups living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS, has trained 40 white garment Apostolic sect leaders in Gutu, Masvingo.
The training was conducted under the ‘SAVE Toolkit’ programme, sponsored by Switzerland, seeks to train champions who in turn go practical and relay the messages to their congregations.
Speaking to Kwedu News, INERELA+ Zimbabwe Coordinator, Elder Paul Carries Juru, said they managed to train several Apostolic sect leaders and a majority agreed to get tested for HIV.
He said the white garment sect, which previously resisted any form of health services, openly welcomed the training.
“In Gutu we mobilized and trained 40 religious leaders of the St Peters reformed Apostolic white garment church on HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment.
“36 of the members were convinced and voluntarily tested for their HIV status.
“Bishop (Gabriel) Nyamandi and wife (Marry Brown) were at the fore front of being tested and divulging their negative statuses publicly.
“This was a first practical and behavior changing intervention in the district among the Apostolic churches who were predominantly against all forms of health services,” Elder Juru said.
The local traditional leadership in the area and University of Zimbabwe representatives were also present during the training to support the initiative.
Elder Juru went on to say more white garment churches expressed interest in the trainings and extended their invitations to be part of the INERELA+ programming in the near future.
One of the local Village Heads in Gutu, Mr Pinel Nemakonde welcomed and thanked INERELA+ Zimbabwe, and “a job well done” by Professor Kudzai Biri from the UZ Faculty of Arts Religious Studies Department, which added value to the outreach by highlighting a lot of key issues on religion and patriarchy, religion and femininity as well as mental health.
“Invitations were extended to team INERELA+ Zimbabwe by other white garment churches including the Zion Church, Mugodhi and Johani Masowe,” Elder Juru said.
He said the organisation is still looking for potential partners to reach out to more Apostolic church members.
INERELA+ Zimbabwe seeks to empower religious leaders through education, knowledge and skills to live positively, becoming symbols of hope and agents of change who help eliminate stigma and discrimination within their congregations and communities.
Current Programmes being run by the organisation accross the country have four thematic areas which include positive living, advocacy and gender justice, human dignity and livelihoods.
Since 2005 the network has over 700 members across Zimbabwe.
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