Sunday, August 31, 2014
Academic articles
For easy access to Dr. Erwin van der Meer's articles on mission, Africa, Witchcraft, ritual violence, spiritual warfare, demonology, children's rights and other topics see the academia website where they can be viewed or downloaded for free. Dr. Erwin van der Meer, although now based in Europe, is still closely affiliated with the ministry of Africa Outreach: https://independent.academia.edu/DrErwinvanderMeer
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
News from Malawi
Greetings from Malawi to all our friends and family in Christ.
The part few months have been challenging but we have thanks to the Lord as he had taught us to survive one day at a time and put our trust in him. Despite the many difficulties which we all have been facing we are all still smiling and praising the Lord.
It has been a good start to the girls academic year with some good reports coming in from the school food the two young girls in our home, that kids Anna and Caroline getting particularly good reviews of the progress which they are making.
We have had some visitors come and stay in the home with the girls for a couple of weeks this has been good for the girls and the visitors, Karina Dingemanse and Jooske Crucq from Holland, who have all enjoyed each other's company and learnt from each other.
Ethan and I, are well and we continue to pray for Sevana' s health as she continues with her struggle with physical pain and balance it out with work. We also pray that the financial situation improves so that we may carry on with the work which we are here to do.
The funding has gotten so low that we are now in a situation where we had to resort to supporting the girls while they live in their own homes (as long as their safety is not put at risk). We will keep the home open for all emergency situations and as a safe place for all our girls in times of need. We are planning to improve on our family counseling for the girls to ensure on a smooth healing process in the homes.
We are thankful and feel blessed by all those who have continued to support financially and through pray through these tough times, may the good Lord continue to bless you all.
Warm regards
Shingayi, Sevana and Ethan Munjanja
The part few months have been challenging but we have thanks to the Lord as he had taught us to survive one day at a time and put our trust in him. Despite the many difficulties which we all have been facing we are all still smiling and praising the Lord.
It has been a good start to the girls academic year with some good reports coming in from the school food the two young girls in our home, that kids Anna and Caroline getting particularly good reviews of the progress which they are making.
We have had some visitors come and stay in the home with the girls for a couple of weeks this has been good for the girls and the visitors, Karina Dingemanse and Jooske Crucq from Holland, who have all enjoyed each other's company and learnt from each other.
Ethan and I, are well and we continue to pray for Sevana' s health as she continues with her struggle with physical pain and balance it out with work. We also pray that the financial situation improves so that we may carry on with the work which we are here to do.
The funding has gotten so low that we are now in a situation where we had to resort to supporting the girls while they live in their own homes (as long as their safety is not put at risk). We will keep the home open for all emergency situations and as a safe place for all our girls in times of need. We are planning to improve on our family counseling for the girls to ensure on a smooth healing process in the homes.
We are thankful and feel blessed by all those who have continued to support financially and through pray through these tough times, may the good Lord continue to bless you all.
Warm regards
Shingayi, Sevana and Ethan Munjanja
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Boko Haram
Monday, May 19, 2014
Documentary
Our project among the so-called ''witch children'' of Malawi received ample attention in a TV documentary aired on national TV in the Netherlands last Friday. We congratulate our representative Sevana Munjanja-van der Meer's excellent role in the documentary. It is our prayer that the documentary will contribute to more intervention to prevent witchcraft-belief related violence against children in Malawi and elsewhere.
For those whose dutch is rusty you can still understand the part featuring Sevana as it is in English about 6 minutes into the documentary: http://www.npo.nl/
For those whose dutch is rusty you can still understand the part featuring Sevana as it is in English about 6 minutes into the documentary: http://www.npo.nl/
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Request for contributions
Request for contributions
We are working with our Ugandan partners towards holding an International symposium on child mutilation and Sacrifice in July 2014 in Uganda. Any contributions can be send to africaoutreach(at)gmail.com Donations towards this worthy cause are also highly appreciated as our budget is very limited this can be done by paypal to the same email address or by international transfer to the Afrika Zending account in The Netherlands:
Name beneficiary: Stichting Afrika Zending (Africa Outreach)
Address beneficiary: Leeuwenberg 2
Postal code: 2641 MD
City: Pijnacker
Country: The Netherlands
Account number beneficary: 5795209
IBAN beneficiary: NL15 INGB 0005 7952 09
Bank beneficiary: ING Bank
Bank address: FINANCIAL PLAZA BIJLMERDREEF 109
Postal code: 1102 BW
City: Amsterdam
Country: NETHERLANDS
BIC/SWIFT code: INGBNL2A
Please mention the project for which you send a donation (choose below):
- Support African missionaries
- Symposium Uganda
- Anti-child sacrifice/mutilation campaign Uganda
- Safe house victims of ritual abuse Uganda
- Anti-child witchcraft accusations campaign
- Safe house sexually abused children and youths Malawi
- Safe house victims of child witchcraft accusations Malawi
- Development low-cost distance learning Bible College for Africa
- General
We are working with our Ugandan partners towards holding an International symposium on child mutilation and Sacrifice in July 2014 in Uganda. Any contributions can be send to africaoutreach(at)gmail.com Donations towards this worthy cause are also highly appreciated as our budget is very limited this can be done by paypal to the same email address or by international transfer to the Afrika Zending account in The Netherlands:
Name beneficiary: Stichting Afrika Zending (Africa Outreach)
Address beneficiary: Leeuwenberg 2
Postal code: 2641 MD
City: Pijnacker
Country: The Netherlands
Account number beneficary: 5795209
IBAN beneficiary: NL15 INGB 0005 7952 09
Bank beneficiary: ING Bank
Bank address: FINANCIAL PLAZA BIJLMERDREEF 109
Postal code: 1102 BW
City: Amsterdam
Country: NETHERLANDS
BIC/SWIFT code: INGBNL2A
Please mention the project for which you send a donation (choose below):
- Support African missionaries
- Symposium Uganda
- Anti-child sacrifice/mutilation campaign Uganda
- Safe house victims of ritual abuse Uganda
- Anti-child witchcraft accusations campaign
- Safe house sexually abused children and youths Malawi
- Safe house victims of child witchcraft accusations Malawi
- Development low-cost distance learning Bible College for Africa
- General
The tragedy of the ‘brain drain’ in evangelical theological education in Africa
The tragedy of the ‘brain drain’ in evangelical theological education in Africa
For many decades evangelical theological education has been promoted in Africa in order to produce leaders who can effectively disciple people so that they get a better grasp of the Gospel and the teachings of Christ. To some extend this drive has been successful and where there were only a handful of evangelical theologians in Africa with a PhD only three decades ago, today there are many more. However, all is not as rosy as it may seem. Evangelical PhD graduate face enormous difficulties once they leave seminary or university. They are confronted with family members who have been investing in them for 12 years or more so that they could complete their studies and who now have high financial expectations. There may be loans to be repaid as well.
Some were confronted with political violence, repression and censorship but also treated with suspicion by less educated fellow-Africans in our churches and less-educated missionary colleagues who perceived them as a threat to their position of authority. While all of the African Evangelical theologians I know were dreaming of contributing significantly to theological training in Africa, the realities on the ground made it very difficult for them. In many of our Bible colleges and theological institutions they were mistreated as second-class teachers because they needed a salary while their western colleagues proudly presented themselves as offering their services for ‘’free’’ in spite of receiving a much higher income and driving around in big landrovers or landcruisers while their poor African colleague had to use local transport. In spite of struggling to make a living with small salaries of 500 US$ or less per month without medical aid or hope for a future pension these African Evangelical theologians carried heavier workloads than their western colleagues and yet they were so much more effective in teaching, preaching and social outreach.
I have witnessed first hand how some plodded on for years, lecturing and preaching, and even managed to write some theological articles, start new projects and conduct many leadership seminars in their churches. However, eventually the strain became too much and started to take a heavy toll on their health, marriages and families. As a result many of them ended up leaving Africa with heavy hearts to take up lowly but better paying secular jobs in the west in order to make ends meet. For example the four evangelical PhD’s that I personally knew in Zimbabwe, only one has managed to remain in Africa and he is teaching mostly middle-class white students at a relatively well-to-do Bible college in Cape Town, South Africa. The most brilliant of them with a PhD from Aberdeen University and one of the most intelligent persons I have met in life is now a part-time community worker in a village in Scotland. As much as the others would have loved to continue to the spiritual growth of the church in Africa, they were simply not empowered to do so. Although all of them made great personal sacrifices, in the end they had no choice but to emigrate to the West so that at least they could do well in their most important ministry and that is looking after their families.Doing jobs way below their abilities they are now at least able to take care of their families and to build up a small pension for the future.
It is very easy for someone who has not experienced the poverty and the humiliation they have experienced to judge them, after all we do not have to worry about how to feed our families, pay for our children's school fees or whether we will retire in abject poverty. Nevertheless, the truth of the matter is that they work in the diaspora, not because they wanted to leave Africa or wanted to leave theological education, they were simply failed by the failure of their rich fellow Evangelicals in the West to support and empower them. This applies to their missionary colleagues who closed their eyes to the needs of their African colleagues and did not share their riches (1 John 3:17), but also to the rich body of Christ in the West. Considering the amount of funds available within western evangelicalism it would have been possible to provide each African Evangelical PhD Theologian with a stipend of 1500 $ per month which would have been enough for them to continue to do their work in Africa with joy and which would have been only a fraction of supporting a less effective western missionary with the same credentials (2 Cor. 8:7-15; 1Tim. 6:17-19).
Dr. Erwin van der Meer, The Hague, Netherlands
For many decades evangelical theological education has been promoted in Africa in order to produce leaders who can effectively disciple people so that they get a better grasp of the Gospel and the teachings of Christ. To some extend this drive has been successful and where there were only a handful of evangelical theologians in Africa with a PhD only three decades ago, today there are many more. However, all is not as rosy as it may seem. Evangelical PhD graduate face enormous difficulties once they leave seminary or university. They are confronted with family members who have been investing in them for 12 years or more so that they could complete their studies and who now have high financial expectations. There may be loans to be repaid as well.
Some were confronted with political violence, repression and censorship but also treated with suspicion by less educated fellow-Africans in our churches and less-educated missionary colleagues who perceived them as a threat to their position of authority. While all of the African Evangelical theologians I know were dreaming of contributing significantly to theological training in Africa, the realities on the ground made it very difficult for them. In many of our Bible colleges and theological institutions they were mistreated as second-class teachers because they needed a salary while their western colleagues proudly presented themselves as offering their services for ‘’free’’ in spite of receiving a much higher income and driving around in big landrovers or landcruisers while their poor African colleague had to use local transport. In spite of struggling to make a living with small salaries of 500 US$ or less per month without medical aid or hope for a future pension these African Evangelical theologians carried heavier workloads than their western colleagues and yet they were so much more effective in teaching, preaching and social outreach.
I have witnessed first hand how some plodded on for years, lecturing and preaching, and even managed to write some theological articles, start new projects and conduct many leadership seminars in their churches. However, eventually the strain became too much and started to take a heavy toll on their health, marriages and families. As a result many of them ended up leaving Africa with heavy hearts to take up lowly but better paying secular jobs in the west in order to make ends meet. For example the four evangelical PhD’s that I personally knew in Zimbabwe, only one has managed to remain in Africa and he is teaching mostly middle-class white students at a relatively well-to-do Bible college in Cape Town, South Africa. The most brilliant of them with a PhD from Aberdeen University and one of the most intelligent persons I have met in life is now a part-time community worker in a village in Scotland. As much as the others would have loved to continue to the spiritual growth of the church in Africa, they were simply not empowered to do so. Although all of them made great personal sacrifices, in the end they had no choice but to emigrate to the West so that at least they could do well in their most important ministry and that is looking after their families.Doing jobs way below their abilities they are now at least able to take care of their families and to build up a small pension for the future.
It is very easy for someone who has not experienced the poverty and the humiliation they have experienced to judge them, after all we do not have to worry about how to feed our families, pay for our children's school fees or whether we will retire in abject poverty. Nevertheless, the truth of the matter is that they work in the diaspora, not because they wanted to leave Africa or wanted to leave theological education, they were simply failed by the failure of their rich fellow Evangelicals in the West to support and empower them. This applies to their missionary colleagues who closed their eyes to the needs of their African colleagues and did not share their riches (1 John 3:17), but also to the rich body of Christ in the West. Considering the amount of funds available within western evangelicalism it would have been possible to provide each African Evangelical PhD Theologian with a stipend of 1500 $ per month which would have been enough for them to continue to do their work in Africa with joy and which would have been only a fraction of supporting a less effective western missionary with the same credentials (2 Cor. 8:7-15; 1Tim. 6:17-19).
Dr. Erwin van der Meer, The Hague, Netherlands
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Thoughts about de-constructing the evil-self image of abused ‘witch children’
Thoughts about de-constructing the evil-self image of abused ‘witch children’
For the so-called ‘witch children’ and other abused children it is often easier for them to accept that they are indeed witches than to accept that they are innocent and have been victims of abuse. They have been dehumanized so that they no longer see themselves as valuable human beings but have adopted the 'witch' identity imposed on them by the abusers. Jewish victims within the Nazi death camps were not only tortured, starved and killed, there was also a systematic attempt to destroy their self-image and sense of identity and being unable to resist the perpetrators of abuse many victims turned to self-hatred (Herman 1997:92-95). Children who have been abused are even more vulnerable than adults to indoctrination because their identity was not yet fully formed by the time the abuse took place. A child entrapped in the horror of being accused of being a witch or in other forms of child abuse may due to the severity of the abuse develop the belief that he or she is somehow responsible for the crimes of the abusers. "Surely if the most powerful people in his or her life do such terrible things to me, I must be thoroughly evil" (Herman 1997:105). Survivors of severe childhood abuse may think of themselves in terms of what they consider ultimate evil or filth, such as witches, vampires, satanists, prostitutes, whores, dogs, rats or snakes or whatever is considered the ultimate evil or filth in their cultural context(ibid).
It is important for any counselor involved in counseling such severely traumatized children to know that they may have developed a stigmatized identity whereby in an attempt to make sense of an otherwise senseless situation and have internalized the evil of the abuser. Even after the child is brought into a safe environment this inner sense of badness does not automatically disappear as it has been integrated into the child’s personality structure. As a result the survivors of such abuse continue to view themselves with contempt, carrying the shame and guilt of the abusers upon their shoulders (ibid). Outwardly the child may be working very hard to appear good and display an almost perfectionist zeal and yet inwardly loathe him or herself. It is essential to help the child to overcome the sense of being evil and bad, and learns to accept that the evil and bad was done to him/her.
It is not easy to undo witch-indoctrination in a culture in which the prevailing belief-system affirms the existence of witches and interprets most disasters, illnesses, deaths and misfortunes to the activities of witches. A young orphan who has been brought up in this context and loses his or her parents due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic will need very little coercion to be convinced by the relatives or community that he or she is the witch responsible for the death of the parents. Already traumatized by the loss of the parents and in desperate need to placate the powerful adults in his or her life the child will quickly agree to every accusation in the vain hope that this well bring an end to hostilities and bring the protection, care, love and affection he or she craves for. For the child to construct a more positive sense of self it is essential not to just deal with the physical and psychological effects of the abuse but to address the underlying worldview which provided the rationale for the abuse and which still holds the victim mentally captive in a sense of guilt, shame and self-loathing.
Erwin van der Meer
- Herman, Judith Lewis 1997. Trauma and Recovery. London: Pandora.
For the so-called ‘witch children’ and other abused children it is often easier for them to accept that they are indeed witches than to accept that they are innocent and have been victims of abuse. They have been dehumanized so that they no longer see themselves as valuable human beings but have adopted the 'witch' identity imposed on them by the abusers. Jewish victims within the Nazi death camps were not only tortured, starved and killed, there was also a systematic attempt to destroy their self-image and sense of identity and being unable to resist the perpetrators of abuse many victims turned to self-hatred (Herman 1997:92-95). Children who have been abused are even more vulnerable than adults to indoctrination because their identity was not yet fully formed by the time the abuse took place. A child entrapped in the horror of being accused of being a witch or in other forms of child abuse may due to the severity of the abuse develop the belief that he or she is somehow responsible for the crimes of the abusers. "Surely if the most powerful people in his or her life do such terrible things to me, I must be thoroughly evil" (Herman 1997:105). Survivors of severe childhood abuse may think of themselves in terms of what they consider ultimate evil or filth, such as witches, vampires, satanists, prostitutes, whores, dogs, rats or snakes or whatever is considered the ultimate evil or filth in their cultural context(ibid).
It is important for any counselor involved in counseling such severely traumatized children to know that they may have developed a stigmatized identity whereby in an attempt to make sense of an otherwise senseless situation and have internalized the evil of the abuser. Even after the child is brought into a safe environment this inner sense of badness does not automatically disappear as it has been integrated into the child’s personality structure. As a result the survivors of such abuse continue to view themselves with contempt, carrying the shame and guilt of the abusers upon their shoulders (ibid). Outwardly the child may be working very hard to appear good and display an almost perfectionist zeal and yet inwardly loathe him or herself. It is essential to help the child to overcome the sense of being evil and bad, and learns to accept that the evil and bad was done to him/her.
It is not easy to undo witch-indoctrination in a culture in which the prevailing belief-system affirms the existence of witches and interprets most disasters, illnesses, deaths and misfortunes to the activities of witches. A young orphan who has been brought up in this context and loses his or her parents due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic will need very little coercion to be convinced by the relatives or community that he or she is the witch responsible for the death of the parents. Already traumatized by the loss of the parents and in desperate need to placate the powerful adults in his or her life the child will quickly agree to every accusation in the vain hope that this well bring an end to hostilities and bring the protection, care, love and affection he or she craves for. For the child to construct a more positive sense of self it is essential not to just deal with the physical and psychological effects of the abuse but to address the underlying worldview which provided the rationale for the abuse and which still holds the victim mentally captive in a sense of guilt, shame and self-loathing.
Erwin van der Meer
- Herman, Judith Lewis 1997. Trauma and Recovery. London: Pandora.
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