West Africa Theological Seminary

HIV / AIDS Update

The first six months of 2006 were used to launch a pilot project designed to train fifteen seminarians to take HIV / AIDS education, prevention, care and impact mitigation into as many Lagos-area churches as possible. This involved the development of a highly replicable model for conducting seven weeks of training in each church, at four hours every weekend. The curriculum was expertly put together by the staff and supplemented with visual aids that could be easily transported around the city on public transportation.

Intensive training of the fifteen seminarians took place throughout this six-month start-up period. Deanna Cathcart, of OMS International, spent one month giving special training in the teaching of sexual abstinence, especially to vulnerable youth. The department staff members, including Dr. Sunday Komolafe, Dorothy Njoku, Jennifer Glass Harris, David Akobundu and Sunday Oloyede, then took the students through several weeks of training to become thoroughly conversant with the materials to be presented church-by-church.

In the month of September WATS received news that a mega-church in Kansas, USA, has made a decision to come alongside the seminary to help build a new multi-story Center for Urban and Wholistic Ministries building on our new campus. The center will contain a sizeable clinic, allowing us to expand the two-room clinic that has already been started on campus under the expert direction of nurse practitioner Florence Osume. In addition the new building will house offices, conference rooms and classrooms. The future of our wholistic ministries focus is bright!

WATS' newest department seeks to catalyze the African Church to address the needs of the whole man (Matthew 25:31-46). Meet the people who currently serve in the department.

Left: David Akobundu, associate in the WATS Department of Urban and Wholistic Ministries

Right: David Akobundu, Jennifer Harris, Forence Osume (nurse practioner), Dorothy Njoku and Sunday Oloyede

June 7, 2006
Pastors' HIV / AIDS Conference Attendees

June 7, 2006 Pastors' HIV / AIDS Conference Speakers

Upper left: Dada Alamutu gives an up-to-date report on HIV-AIDS

Upper right : HIV-positive speaker at the pastors conference

Lower left: Dr. Komolafe answers a question

Lower right: Dorothy Njoku, associate in the WATS Department of Urban and Wholistic Ministries addressing the pastors' conference