03 Dec 2018

 First Lady Ms Neo Masisi has urged Moshupa Women in Church to form a unique club that could inspire young people, especially the girl-child to be confident, assertive women of virtue like the Biblical Proverbs 31 kind of woman.

Ms Masisi was speaking during Moshupa Women in Church meeting under the theme: Empowering the Girl-child. 

She said the Proverbs 31 woman feared God, lived in a way that honoured him and modelled the right behaviour for others to emulate, without fail.

She said the organisation should strive to teach the girl-child to be honourable, faithful women who would love and cherish their future husbands.

Ms Masisi said God called women to provide for their families, which she said challenged them to learn different skills, become early risers and work hard even if it meant staying up late. 

She explained that having different skills set could make it easier for them to find the means to provide for their families.

She also urged parents to encourage young women to use their God-given talents to create employment opportunities for themselves, saying God, in his infinite wisdom, has bestowed each individual with a special skill called talent, which when exploited fully, could help them reach intended destinies. Ms Masisi applauded UCCSA for coming up with the initiative and sharing it with other churches in Moshupa to create a positive impact. 

She said issues like teenage delinquency, lawlessness among others required a multi-sectoral approach. 

She also commended the church for striving to get down to the bottom of the problem rather than addressing symptoms only and advised them to continue dealing with issues afflicting the nation with the urgency they deserved using the word of God as the standard according to which, all should live.

The First Lady explained that the word of God was a rich source of wisdom, which they could also use for counselling, capacitation on issues like parenting, emotional intelligence and empowerment among others. 

She said she was particularly happy that the organisation aimed at empowering women and argued that empowering a woman was technically, empowering the nation.

She challenged women to use kind words on their children at all times, saying one unkind word to a child could destroy their self-esteem. 

She also advised parents to choose proper names for their children rather than those that could potentially reduce them in the eyes of the society. 

Ms Masisi further urged fathers to help mothers raise their children.

Rev. Derek Silwenga of UCCSA applauded Ms Masisi for her passion towards the girl-child. 

He said his church was happy to share her passion and vision, especially during the recently launched 16 days of activism against gender based violence. 

Rev. Silwenga encouraged other churches to support Ms Masisi’s vision, which he described as a noble cause that was informed by the word of God.

He also encouraged men to ensure girl-children were loved and respected to enable them to grow and become the best they could be in life.

When sharing the genesis of the initiative, Rev. Patience Pheko said the initiative was conceptualised by the former UCCSA synod president Ms Mmangaka Mmualefhe during one of the meetings in 2016. 

She said Ms Mmualefhe encouraged UCCSA members to share the idea with other churches across the nation to create a positive impact

Rev. Pheko said they focused on parenting, delinquency and conflicts at home, among others, adding that they were concerned that children were fast getting out of hand but the church seemed to be silent. 

She said they believed that if empowered, women could stem the tide because they were close to the realities on the ground. She said God called a woman to be an equal partner in development with the man.ENDS