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| (Left) Mrs. Theresa Abuya, Nation Family Life Coordinator, (Center) Rt. Rev Salesius Mugambi, KCCB Chairman Family Life during the fund drive to raise money for the program. |
The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops through the office of Family Life has expressed deep commitments to embark on programs geared towards good parenting and journeying with couples. The National Family Life coordinator at KCCB, Mrs. Theresa Mera Abuya revealed this to AMECEA Online News during an interview at her office in Nairobi.
According to Abuya, the conference has identified two main issues that currently pose danger to the family and which the conference plans to pay close attention to.
“Parenting is a major challenge to many families because when you look at the society you will realize that all the ills are emanating from irresponsible parenting.” She said adding that parents are busy looking for resource for the families at the expense of quality time together leaving the children in the care of nannies, PlayStations and television hence the disconnect and lack of family essence.
The second major challenge that the conference intend to address is the issue of journeying with the couples from courtship to marriage and after marriage because divorce and separation rates are alarming according to Abuya.
“Marriage in today’s society has been reduced to fulfillment of gaps in people’s lives for instance, financial security or need to sire kids, the real meaning of marriage, which is companionship has completely been lost,” she said.
It is against this backdrop that the National Family Life office intends to carry out a number of activities to address these challenges. The programs are meant to be carried out from the diocese and trickled down to parishes in order to have great impact.
Mrs. Abuya said that lack of finances has big a big challenge to implementing planned activities, which includes organizing yearly national couples’ retreats, training family life educators from each diocese, training catechists from the dioceses who handle most of the issues to do with family life; training natural family planning trainers from the dioceses and coordinating dioceses on family life.
The office is currently involved in mobilization of funds to support its initiatives. Led by the Bishop Chairman of the KCCB Family Life, Rt. Rev Salesius Mugambi, the national office held a funds drive on 6th June, to raise money to enable the office roll out its program in all the Dioceses. Through the fund drive, the office managed to collect one million Kenyan Shillings (USD 10, 500) which Mrs. Abuya said was far from their target but will go a long way. She is hoping that the program will be self-sustainable and also from good wills
Source: Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Online News