Living in a world plagued by HIV, early marriage, and children born out of wedlock brings shame, tragedy, confusion, and heartache. The next generation brings hope to Africa, but we must educate them in the word of God and the ways of God. A five day abstinence training called "Choose To Wait" was recently conducted with about 28 youth from Nsongwe village.

Mr. Timothy Mfula from Christ’s Hope International (CHI) organization conducted the training with 28 students ranging from age 16-19 years old from Nswonge village. The training was based on the Choose to Wait curriculum developed by CHI that teaches about the value that God places on each person and the value he places on sex because it has the power to create a human being. It also emphasizes the importance of abstinence and the gift of sex within the bonds of marriage. The students were taught the curriculum in addition to being taught how to create a lesson plan to teach the curriculum to others.
There were 10 new decisions for Christ during this training as well as 24 pledges to stay abstinent until marriage.

During the fourth day of the training, the gospel message was shared alongside his message about the value of each person. Many of the students were eager to hear about and came forward to receive Christ and prayer for things that were holding them back from taking a pledge of abstinence. It was so important that each student had a foundation of Christ to stand on through temptations and hardships that will come.

There was a boy named Boniface who came forward the first day of the training claiming that boys were more valuable than girls because they pay a dowry to get married. He claimed that the only reason for marriage was to bear children. As the training continued, Boniface started participating more and agreed with what was being taught. By the end of the training, Boniface made a decision to stay pure and his attitude towards women and marriage changed as shown through his comments about the training and his faithful attendance. He is the kind of youth who should be targeted with this curriculum as many have been taught the traditions of their forefathers rather than the truths of God.

This program will be continued by a few students who are ready to teach it to small groups of three or four people. They will do it through the “Youth of Fire” group in Nsongwe village and the local youth leaders of that group will help supervise those teaching the curriculum along with Erin Hartzell, community coordinator of the LIFE Project. They can do it in their schools, churches, or other groups where they feel this message should be spread.