Christian and Muslim Couples have undergone a training workshop on the purpose of Christian and Muslim marriage, effective communication in marriage, faithfulness, forgiveness, respect for human life and dignity, positive parenting, among others.
The July 10 to 16 training was organised by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for twenty (20) SMART Christian and Muslim couples at the Modern City Hotel in Tamale. SMART, an acronym which means “Strengthening Marriages and Relationships through Communication and Planning”, is currently being implemented in more than 18 countries with over 232,000 beneficiaries.
The SMART couples’ concept uses faith-based curricula to strengthen household governance and intra-household decision-making whiles challenging detrimental cultural and gender norms. It also coaches cohabitating partners on better ways to communicate and adopt joint-decision making behaviours as regards nutrition, maternal and child health, natural family planning, household economics, among others.
The concept is part of a 3-year programme dubbed, “Strengthening the Capacity of Women Religious” (SCORE ECD III Project) being implemented by Sisters of Mary Immaculate, Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, Sisters of Charity of St. Anne, Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ and Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters.
It is under the supervision of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious in Ghana (CMSR-G) and funded by Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a Philanthropic Trust based in the United States of America in partnership with CRS.
Participants who comprised eleven Christian and nine Muslim couples, were from Damongo, Walewale, Saboba, Tatale, Chereponi, Tuna, Chamba, Tinga, Kongo, and Fumbisi. They were selected as exemplary couples by their respective communities. The other criteria for selection was at least one of the spouse should be able to read and write and also the couple should be willing to form groups and facilitate group meetings after the training.
The Resource Persons were Mr. Fidelis Anumu and his wife, Dominica, parishioners of St. Thomas Moore Parish at Achimota, who are Marriage Counsellors and also members of the Faithful House Facilitation Team of the Archdiocese of Accra.
They took participants through topics such as the purpose of Christian and Muslim marriage, effective communication in marriage, faithfulness, forgiveness, respect for human life and dignity, positive parenting, among others.
The Resource Persons advised participants to beware of activities such as watching adult films, exposure to the media, unauthorised use of mobile phones of parents, peer influence, rape, physical assault, child labour, child stealing and mis-education through television, among other vices, which poses danger to children.
They further urged the participants to teach their children the “No touch rule”, of their private parts and entreated to take keen interest in the academic performance of the children and as much as possible be friends to their teachers and motivate them.
Addressing participants during the closing ceremony, Madam Caroline Dery, Programme Manager of SCORE ECD III Project at CRS, entreated them to use the Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC), a community-based savings and loans scheme to form groups of between 8-10 couples who will joined by groups already formed under the SCRORE Project.
She asked them to use it as an opportunity to discuss marriage issues in order to disseminate lessons learnt from this and the previous training on Early Childhood Development to educate mothers who have children between the ages of 0-3 years on how to take care of their babies, among other issues, when they come to save.
The SILC scheme which is popularly known as “adakabila” in Dagbon, brings together a group of people who save their own monies over a period of time after which the profit accruing from loans granted are shared among members to empower them to establish small businesses, pay their children’s school fees, take care of feeding and other needs of their families, among others.
Sr. Theodora Adzayawo, SMMC, the Executive Secretary of CMSR-G, expressed optimism that the training would help strengthen and stabilise the marriages of participants, assist them grow in holiness and also help them nurture good children who will be useful to Ghana and their respective religions.
She urged participants to take the message of the training to their communities and thanked the Resource Persons for brightening their horizons and also CRS for their collaboration.
In an interview with Newswatchgh.com on the lessons learnt during the training, Mr. Adams Mahama, a participant from Tinga in the Bole District noted that society has defined roles for husbands and wives which are restrictive.
He said the training had exposed him to the fact that decision-making and roles such as helping his wife in the kitchen or accompanying her to market is a shared one and a mutual support aimed at strengthening relationships.
His wife, Latifa, who spoke about how the lessons learnt can be applied to improve their marriage, told Newswatcgh.com, “I used to express gratitude to my husband through actions but I’ve learnt that doing so in words is very important. I’ll now appreciate my husband with words.”
On his part, Mrs. Atanga Mama Irene Dassah from Tuna, said she had learnt that God is the foundation of every marriage, hence, the need for more commitment, true love, effective communication and forgiveness between spouses.
Her husband, Mr. Ireneaus Dassah, said, “True love is something that we can bear; marriage should not be seen as something ordinary but a union ordained by God. I’ll be using this lesson to improve on our marriage”, he added.
Mr. Ibrahim Kokodo, a participant from of Saboba, on behalf of his colleagues, expressed profound gratitude to the Resource Persons, Nuns of the seven implementing Congregations some of whom were in attendance, as well as CRS, for the knowledge imparted to them through the training.
By Francis E. Monnie//Newswatchgh.com
