WHI Making a Difference through Reach4Life

Millions of Africans live every day afflicted with HIV or AIDS and the number grows every year. Offering guidance and education to an African youth living surrounded by AIDS is a steep challenge, but it is possible with tools like the Reach4Life program. Recently, Arnold Banji Mungala wrote about the experience of living with the AIDS crisis in Zambia and how this innovative approach made a difference for him.

To learn more about this important program, visit our Reach4Life page or visit our donation page to make the Reach4Life experience possible for a deserving African young person.

My name is Arnold Banji Mungala. I am a pupil at Jembo High School doing my eleventh Grade and I am twenty years old. It is now my privilege and honor to air out what Reach for Life has done in different aspects of my life, like spiritually, physically, emotionally, changed my behavior and the encouragement I have got from it.

Reach for Life has help me to grow strong in my spiritual life. I have known that God is the only One who has the Truth. I have known that if only I follow God’s commandments, I will be free from all the problems caused by sin. So this has made me to grow in the things of God. Reach for Life has strengthened me to be fully involved in the things of God. Lessons discourage bad things that may destroy my life as a youth.

Physically, Reach for Life has helped me understand my physical growth and even how to know how to look at things and control our desires. Physically as youths we desire to get things that we cannot find using good ways and when we fail we tend to use dubious means to get those things, for example money and material things. I have learnt that I should protect my body from bad things because my body is the temple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have learnt that God is Faithfull and can help us if we ask Him with good lives.

Emotionally, Reach for Life has helped me a lot to understand my emotion part of growing in a way that I do understand myself, the things happening to me and Reach for Life has enabled me to know how to control myself according to the Bible. According to the Bible, my body is the temple of God and I must use it to the praise of God not to things that disturb most youths of having sexual intercourse in their tender age. The Bible and the Reach for Life lessons say that sex is a special thing that is given to mankind to enjoy when two people are married. The Reach for Life has also informed us that the devil deceives us to sin through sex because he knows that when we sin using our own bodies we are sinning against our own bodies.

The other thing that has changed in my life because of Reach for Life is my behavior. Reach for Life has helped a lot even in the way I behave. Before I learnt the lessons for Reach for Life I used to like foolish things, so to say, like watching sexual movies that can destroy me. Now since Reach for Life was introduced in our school, I have learnt that what we see or watch can lead me into doing the actual thing.

Last, but not least, I would like to really thank the Reach for Life group for the encouragement that I have got from their lessons since I started learning Reach for Life. For instance, I have been saying that I will not have sex outside marriage and Reach for Life has helped on strengthening me to keep away from sexual intercourse. Only Reach for Life has helped me in the area of disciplining myself from doing bad things like stealing because I have learnt that if I lack something, I should ask God with good motive and I will be given for He cares for me. Reach for Life has also encouraged me to control myself emotionally because the Bible puts it clear that I can control myself.

In conclusion, I would say Reach for Life has done a great job in my life and has helped me to grow in different areas of my life; spiritually, emotionally and has changed my behavior and has encouraged me a lot in doing healthy things in all areas of my life. It is now my privilege and honor to thank the Reach for Life group for bringing good news to us youths. May the Almighty Lord bless you and increase the days of your lives so that you continue spreading the good news world wide on behalf of the Zambian youths. I am asking that Reach for Life would reach even people in the rural areas and those in basic schools.