CHE Explained...somewhat

I have received a lot of emails lately asking what in the world CHE is. I can't blame you really, its been months since I appeared at your churches and small groups sharing the vision for ministry here in Tanzania.

CHE is an acronym for Community Health Evangelism a method of wholistic ministry being used around the world by countless organizations as a method to assist those living in poverty and spread the Gospel.

This is where I cheat. Someone else has written it so eloquently, that I thought I would take the words straight from the Lifewind website, (formerly Medical Ambassadors) the developers of the CHE model.

Community Health Evangelism (CHE) empowers communities to overcome poverty, disease, and hopelessness by mobilizing their God-given potential and available resources. In a CHE program, local volunteers are equipped and empowered to:

• evangelize their community, making new followers of Jesus
• nurture disciples, strengthening the church
• improve sanitation, preventing diseases
• enhance agriculture, increasing food production
• create new enterprises, overcoming poverty
• utilize appropriate technologies, creating sustainability

How does it work? Yet again I will take the words of the creators...

CHE is initiated in a community by a two- or three-person CHE training team — dedicated Christians who speak the language of the community and live close enough to visit frequently.

CHE trainers may be trained, mentored and supervised by LifeWind, a local church, or another organization. (ie. CMF Tanzania) The training team builds relationships with local residents. As they spend time in the community, they assess needs and assets through observation, and develop trust. In due time, they provide information about CHE to members and leaders of the community. The trainers assure that community leaders understand CHE as a way they can address their physical, social and spiritual needs themselves, not a program that offers them money. The key to CHE is the community's willingness to take responsibility for addressing its own problems.Through a series of open meetings, the community decides whether or not to do CHE as a community.

If the training team has done its initial work well, most communities decide to do CHE. The community then selects people to serve as their local leadership committee, which is prepared for its work by the training team. Then the CHE program is officially launched by the community. The leadership committee selects other community members to be trained as volunteer CHEs (chays) — community health educators/evangelists. The work of these dedicated volunteers is crucial to achieving results. Through frequent trainings, the CHEs are equipped to implement health-improving steps in their own homes, and they learn how to pass along what they are learning in home visits with other families. The CHEs become health educators and personal evangelists to their community. The combined influence of the training team, the leadership committee, and the volunteer CHEs creates a dynamic process of learning and change in the community. Physical and social health improves, projects are accomplished, and spiritual growth occurs as people come to faith in Christ. The community changes from the inside-out. CHE works because it is the community's own program, with CHE trainers serving as catalysts for change.

So what does that all mean for us? For me? For Unga? For Arusha? For Tanzania?

It is common knowledge that people in Africa are suffering. It is also common knowledge that a lot of money and resources are being poured into this continent every day. But people are still dying of preventable diseases, people are still suffering under poverty, people are still unaware of Jesus even though missionaries have been coming here for countless years. I am reminded of this each time I walk out my front door.

When I first encountered CHE I was impressed that there was a model for ministry, that incorporated the physical, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of an individual, cause lets face it, each area of our lives affects the others. If we are physically ill, it can affect our emotions, which can effect our spiritual well-being, which can also affect our neighbors. We are a complex being, who live with other complex beings, and by addressing just one area, we can only have a small impact...but in equipping nationals to address all of these areas of life, with their own skills resources and abilities, we can have a much larger impact. Instead of me changing the physical life of one person, we want to train neighbors to change the whole person of their whole community.

The idea is fairly simple. The process is not too complicated. The results are astounding.

If you have followed either of the blogs, A glorious adventure or the Unga Limited Blog you will see that our strategy is similar to the strategy laid out by LifeWind, cause really, they have used it and many other organizations have used it all around the world.

We started with learning the language. We then started spending some time in the community. They thought we were just hanging out, but to be honest, we were doing a lot of praying too! We have observed the many struggles in the area, the oppression, the illness, the lack of education, the sanitation issues, and yes, the many spiritual struggles facing those living in these communities. We then share the idea of CHE, and hope they will want to learn more. We cast the vision, train trainers, and contine training them to train each other in areas of physical, emotional, spiritual and community health.

Then it gets a little different, our own little CMF Tanzania twist. We have noticed that a lot of people here are struggling with (now I know this is far out there for some of you, you may just have to see it yourself one day) demons, and bondages from the occult, witchcraft and witchdoctors. We can see how these are not just a symptom of their physical poverty, but possibly a cause, so our goal is to also walk them into not just knowing Jesus, but teach them how to walk in the freedom of Christ, the Hope of Eternal life, the Joy of our great Savior, and the Promise of the King.

The lessons. They are many. They are simple lessons using the resources found in their community, that are affordable. This is important, as this program is meant to be theirs, and the idea is that they could replicate it without us missionaries. Sure we could buy a bunch of Katadyn water filters from the US and have a mass distribution to decrease the prevalence of water bourne illnesses, but lets face it, they aren't cheap, if one breaks a Tanzanian will have to find an expatriate, and then somehow find the money or a sponsor to buy one, and then they will have to somehow get it here...and so on and so on...and then you have to also teach them how to use the filter, and keep it up and clean and lets just say...there are other options. In fact, there is a filter, that is fairly easy to make, that can be made with materials found right in their community, which, if they make it correctly, can decrease the prevalence of water bourne illness. The national is trained. He trains his neighbor who trains their neighbor, who trains theirs etc. They all have clean water, and where did it come from? Literally their own back yard. The only role of the missionary was to train the initial national. It not only cuts out the reliance on the missionary, but it also helps to restore the dignity of the people in that they are no longer reliant on someone else. They can do it themselves!

This is also true in lessons on church planting, discipleship, lessons on freedom in Christ. Our goal, is that as we train the trainers, they would learn the lesson so well, that they can train each other, and multiply throughout Arusha, Tanzania and East Africa. The hope is that in time, Hope would be restored as people recognize they have a loving Father who cares for them, that they would also see a physical change in their community as a result of the physical lessons they are brought, which also impacts their emotional and community relationships! WOW!

And I can't fail to mention teaching them how to meet their own needs through gardens, training in agriculture, small business development etc! Seriously folks, its exciting stuff, there is so much in this little acronym!

So this is a long post, and really you can't get all of CHE in one blog post. Even now I am thinking of a specific track of home based care designed to help those suffering with HIV and AIDS! Just think about it, a community of people suffering with this dreadful disease, on top of the already prevalent diseases that can be prevented, toss in not knowing the love of their Creator, who weeps and sings over them at the same time, mix in the dire physical conditions and you get a recipe for hopelessness. They just wait to die.

But imagine a different story. A community of people who have HIV/AIDS who know how it is spread, and also know how to maintain and LIVE with this disease. Who have discovered a Savior and the promise of Eternal Life beyond what they are already experiencing, toss in education on ways to care for each other, provide for each other through small businesses, and home based care...and you have a much brighter picture! Hope is restored. They have Life.

So back to CHE. It is simple and it is complex. There is so much to it, that like I said, one post won't suffice. In Unga we are looking at the HIV/AIDS curriculum and also looking at helping them start small businesses that will help them provide for their families, and teaching them how to have healthy churches, and discipleship programs. It's insane. It's fun. It's full of Jesus and I am excited.

So I don't know if this post has helped you to better understand CHE, or if it caused more questions and confusion. I hit lightly on a lot of things. If you have more questions, comment or use the envelope to send me an email.