Focus on the Family - Southern Africa

Focus on the Family Africa appoints new
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Amon E. Kasambala
Chief Executive Officer

For many years, the executive team and the board at Focus on the Family has recognized the need to plan strategically for leadership transition that will allow the ministry to continue to meet the ever-changing needs of our constituents, while honouring our stewardship responsibilities for the financial resources God provides.
It gives me pleasure to announce the appointment of the new Chief Executive Officer of Focus on the Family Africa, Dr. Amon Eddie Kasambala.

Dr. Kasambala was born in Zambia on December 13, 1965; he is eminently qualified to take up this position, both by virtue of his work experience and his academic qualifications. As lecturer at Justo Mwale Theological College in Lusaka Zambia, his responsibilities included: Lecturer in Psychology, Pastoral Theology, Society & the Church Leadership Development, including strategic planning for the College and engaging with international donors from the United Kingdom and United States of America.

Amon holds Masters & Doctoral of Theology (D.Th.) degrees from the University of Stellenbosch, Doctoral Dissertation title: “The Interplay between God-images and healing in Pastoral Ministry: Engaging an African Spirituality” and is currently doing an MBA in Strategic Management & Marketing with the Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA). He is well travelled, and has lectured on a variety of topics in various parts of the world including Princeton in the USA, the Netherlands, Scotland and the Far-East.

On a more personal note, Amon is married to Tiba (Tibalenge) and they have two children, Eddie Samuel born on April 25, 2000 and Victor Joshua July 23, 2007. He enjoys reading, playing soccer and volley ball, travelling, sight seeing, gardening, and motivating others on issues of life and hosting guests and international visitors.

While Dr. Kasambala could enjoy a high profile position in the corporate or academic worlds he has felt called to serve God here at Focus. Indeed, as an employee at Focus on the Family Dr. Kasambala is appreciated for the gift and talents he brings to this ministry and we believe it is Gods perfect timing that he is with us to lead the ministry into a new and exciting season. We look forward to his leadership in a position we have long waited to fill. It is important not to allow our structure to be an obstacle to going where the Lord has prepared for us to go or doing what He has called us to do in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible. Please pray for Dr. Amon Kasambala as he undertakes to discharge his duties in this important position as Chief Executive Officer.

Thanks once more for your faithful support of our efforts. We consider you part of our extended “Focus family” and want to make ourselves available to serve you in any way you think appropriate. May God’s richest blessings be yours in the days ahead.

Danie van den Heever
Chairman of the Board of Directors Focus on the Family Africa
(September 2007)

STATISTICS:
March - August 2007

No Apologies Workshops .......... 96

Attendees
- Educators ................................ 4608
- Learners .................................. 5003

Number of Learners Reached ..... 101400

Parenting Workshops .................. 22
- Attendees ................................. 1127

Other Events ............................... 2
- Attendees ................................. 140

Testimony
Letter from a Learner who attended a No Apologies Workshop

“I have learnt to forget about the past. I have learnt that you can forget, then change, so that you can move on. I have learnt to be confident in who you are, and whatever you have done wrong, does not mean that it’s the end of the road. I have learnt that every decision you make impacts your future. I have learnt to abstain and if you abstain from sex, it means you respect your body and you are proud of who you are. I have learnt that you can change and be the person you want to be.”

Testimony
Letter from the
River of Life Church Oudtshoorn

“Thank you so much for coming to Oudtshoorn and the fantastic input we received - it was well worth every minute! The feedback has only been very positive, everyone related very well to the material, your fatherly tone and especially your sense of humour. And also we had one of the mom’s who came to church yesterday and seemed very touched!”

“I thought it was really good. The issues dealt with are helpful and will stand me in good stead as I raise my son”

NO APOLOGIES

Over the past five years, a big thrust of the outreach work at Focus on the Family has been to take the character based life skills programme of No Apologies to the children of Africa.
The main vehicle of communicating this message has been through our train the trainer workshops where educators, pastors and even mature learners have been trained to take this message to children throughout Africa. Educators have become the only adult authority in the lives of millions of our children because of the culture of parents not talking to their children about sex and also because so many children no longer have parents to care of them.

One teacher said “Even as I did the introduction to the No Apologies programme, children were turning to Jesus.”

The No Apologies programme has received support from provincial government authorities in South Africa and from government leaders in other parts of Africa. Over 13,500 educators have now been trained in this program and over 850,000 children have been reached.

PARENTING WITH ASSURANCE

Although we can never guarantee the path our children will take in the world, the Parenting with Assurance course is designed to provide parents with age old parenting tools that will provide “in-built” protective factors for our children to help protect them against dangers such as child pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, cell phone and internet abuse, pornography, as well as, drug and alcohol abuse.

SINGLE PARENTS EVENT

The event was held at the Focus on the Family Africa premises on the 18th August 2007. We had 8 volunteers who took the children to play games and then taught the older children a lesson on “courage.” The total number of children was 37. Our speaker for the day was Brad Sadler. He gave a presentation to 27 parents on “Parenting” and they received the book Parenting with Assurance (published here in South Africa). Brad gave all the parents tools with which to parent and some hilarious examples which had them all laughing (a healing in itself).

STATISTICS:
March - August 2007

Internet:
No. of Website Visits
per Month on average ................... 17 026

Radio Broadcasting:
No. of Stations in Africa ................ 55

Approximate Total
Listenership of Stations .................. 7, 255 000

Television:
No. of TV stations in Africa ........... 1

Publications:
No. of publications we feature in .... 5

TELEVISION

Over the years Focus on the Family has produced a number of impactful television programmes that cater to audiences from the youngest child to Parents struggling with raising children and more. Our aim is to get these incredible programmes aired as widely as possible to reach as many people as possible with these biblically based, advice filled programmes. We are currently finalising with our second TV station in Africa and working on other various possibilities.

RADIO

Focus on the Family started 30 years ago in the USA largely with a radio programme. Today, in Africa, we offer a selection of 6 radio programmes, varying in length and target in 4 different languages, to 55 radio stations and facilities throughout the continent. In this way we are able to reach millions of listeners with the time tested advice and content of Focus on the Family.

INTERNET

Our website has become a wonderful ministry tool for us. We have made sure that there is a rich supply of the quality content that Focus is known for, available to our visitors. Our online shop has also made all of our Focus resources accessible at the touch of a button. We have seen a dramatic increase of visitors to this site over the last 6 months.

PUBLICATIONS

We supply various magazines and newspapers with the Dr Dobson Column as well as other Focus content. We have recently begun a good partnership with a parenting magazine based in Kenya.

STATISTICS:
March - August 2007

Incoming Correspondence ............. 3965

Outgoing Correspondence ............. 891

Counselling Calls ........................... 976

Other Calls ................................... 5288

The Correspondence Department continues to be an integral part of the ministry of Focus on the Family Africa. Every day we receive hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls expressing deep needs or requesting our help and we consider it a privilege to respond to those requests.
We have seen a steady increase in the number of letters and emails over the last 6 months and we are handling more and more requests from countries throughout Africa as the work on the continent increases.

Testimony
Letter from Anonymous

“I asked God for wisdom
And God gave me problems to learn how to solve
I asked God for courage
And God gave me dangers to overcome
I asked God for love
And God gave us troubled people to work with
I asked God for patience and humility
And God said that He can’t give it, it has to be earned
We asked God for prosperity
And God gave us ‘Focus on the Family’.”

STATISTICS:
March - August 2007

Number of Resources Sold .......... 28277

Part of the legacy of Focus on the Family is it's reputation for quality resources covering every aspect of the family. We see every sale of a book, DVD, magazine or CD as part of our ministry to families because our heart is to get these resources out to as many people as possible.
In the past 6 months we have experienced a flurry of activity. We were most encouraged by the sales at the Accelerated Christian Education conference in August (R25,000 net sales), the ISSA School conference (R15,000 net sales) and the Christian Retail show in Pretoria (R50,000 net sales). We are anticipating further sales as a result of our exposure.

Please join us in praying for the following:

1. Launch of 21st Century Parenting & Marriage in 2008.

2. Safety of Facilities

3. Launch of the Truth Project in 2008

4. Guidance and Courage in Family Work

5. Our Partners in Africa

6. Friends of Focus all over the World.

7. New Broadcasting Initiatives at Focus.

8. Children of Africa.

1. In October 2007, No Apologies will be having 21 Children’s Camps held in the Eastern Cape as well as 3 Workshops for Children held in KwaZulu Natal and the Free State.

2. Parenting with Assurance Seminars will be held in Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town in Novemer 2007.

3. We will also be holding a Grandparents event at Doone Village and Le Domaine, Durban in November 2007.

4. Another No Apologies Children’s Camp will take place in the Northern Cape, in December 2007.

5. The Global Services Group of Focus meeting in Dublin in January 2008.

6. In April 2008 we will be hosting Rob Parsons and launching the 21st Century Parenting & Marriage Programme.

Gladys (not her real name!) is twelve years old. She lives in a rural area where many children don’t have parents to teach them about life, love and sex. When she heard the Focus on the Family, “No Apologies” message of abstaining from sexual activity before marriage, through her tears she asked, “Why didn’t someone tell me this before?”

We so wish we could have told her this before. Things like self respect, setting her sexual boundaries and understanding the difference between love and lust, because then she probably would not have become sexually involved with so many boys in her class.

What’s more, Gladys is not alone and has numerous other friends in her area with no one to tell them about these truths or to console them when they get hurt and cry. Some of her friends are already infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, while others have become pregnant with many of them aborting their unwanted babies.

As Focus on the Family Africa continues with the passion of Dr. James Dobson to nurture and protect families, we are encouraged to have faithful friends like some of you, who regularly support us in our work amongst the children as well as in all our other areas of ministry. However, if you are not presently partnering with us and if God is now prompting your heart to support this reputable family ministry, your monthly, or “once off”, gift will help us further impact children such as Gladys. It will also help us continue to encourage and support the multitudes of families on this wonderful continent of Africa.

Register now to be a Friend of Focus on the Family Africa by completing the enclosed reply form and making your commitment to ensure that the family message continues to be heard.

Thank you for allowing us this opportunity to share with you the impact Focus on the Family Africa has had over the past few months. Once again thank you for your support, without your prayers and financial assistance none of this would be possible. We would like to send out this ‘Impact Update’ twice yearly so please expect to see more exciting ministry updates in the future.
May you and your family be richly blessed.

Dr Amon Kasambala
Chief Executive Officer