RISE International

Response to ITC!:

"Courage for Angola"

The response is overwhelmingly positive, as people are moved and desire to live with character and courage, and share that messge with those with whom they have influence.

A Letter from Salomon Soares - RISE Country Coordinator

Thirty years of civil war in Angola have resulted in social outrage and unrest among our youth. Their vision for life has been blurred by hopelessness, unforgiveness, and remorse for poor choices they have made. Today, ITC! is giving new hope and vision to our youth, with the courage and life skills they need to become young people of character.

It Takes Courage! is going beyond our expectations. Nothing is having a greater impact in our schools and church communities. We have now hosted seven ITC! conferences in four provinces, training 682 teachers, church leaders and pastors. Five of these conferences have been led by our Angolan ITC! training team. Today, 34 schools and 14 church denominations are impacting the lives of our Angolan youth with ITC!

High school and college students are hardest to reach with the character message, but we hear that ITC! has become their favorite subject. The complaint we hear most often now is that "there isn't enough time!" This is one class students don't want to miss.

In light of this success, the Ministry of Eduation of Angola and Churches United Against HIV/AIDS (CUAHA) have adopted the ITC! curriculum. RISE International will always provide the training. During our two most recent ITC! conferences, we have been surprised to see the emotional responses to the subject of forgiveness. Seven teachers and twelve pastors declared their HIV status and made decisions to forgive the spouses who infected them. A woman who had opened a case at the Court of Justice against her husband for infecting her with HIV decided to close the case. It is amazing to see, again and again, the impact of ITC! We look forward to building on this success with the new and exciting strategy of Grandma's Village discussion groups. Let us join our hands and empower our generation for better choices and a brighter future.