The Words of the Kwak Family
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The Words of the Kwak Family |
My understanding of the second 21-year course centering on blessed couples or members is that the unit of restoration is not just the person, but the country. So Father is concerned about the future of the world and also the environment of the future ideal world. His heart is reaching out to the nation and the world. So our goal is for countries to come to understand God. Furthermore, all members should become models of loyalty to their country, working and serving their countries.
Central Africa has given us an opportunity to put these ideals into practice. On September 23, I met the new president of Central African Republic, General Kolingba. I first conveyed to him greetings on behalf of True Parents, which is basically one world under God. with no barriers of denomination, culture, race, nationality. Furthermore, I said, he teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven can come about on earth only if people fulfill their responsibility.
I outlined Father's principal concerns:
1) The decline of religions. Heavenly Father has been expecting the religions to fulfill their main responsibility of bringing man closer to God. But because of their decline, they are failing in this mission. So through the Unification movement, Father wanted to show an example of what religion should fulfill. This is a kind of historical revolution, a new attitude in religion. Ours is a worldwide movement, in 127 countries, I said. It is noteworthy that in the founder's own lifetime, this movement has spread throughout the world.
2) The decline in morality and disintegration of the family. Father's concern is to guide the younger generation to live by a strong moral foundation. Because of his teachings, young people in the Unification Church are different from others -- They are motivated to sacrifice for other, give unselfish love and transcend boundaries between people. I gave many examples, such as Mary Bizot, who came from a good family and educational background and wanted to be engaged to a black person, because of True Parents' guidance.
3) The communist strategy. Communism is an untruth, so Father's deep desire is to share the truth. Following communist methods, it is impossible to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Next, I explained Father's viewpoint about Africa. Africa has been sacrificed for the benefit of western society, which has taken many material resources from Africa and has spread corruption there. So now is the time for Africa to receive blessings. Africa has many natural resources, which Heavenly Father has prepared for its benefit. African countries need help. Developed countries should support Africa, but they are not doing enough, seeking instead mainly their own benefit. So Father decided to support African development.
I emphasized the need for first giving the young people spiritual and moral training, without which technical training is not so effective. We really want to contribute to the future well-being of this country; the moral and spiritual education of the young people is the key.
I met earlier with Mr. Dacko, the previous president of the Central African Republic and a deeply religious but open-minded person. He had had a vision for an educational program for the youth, but because of lack of funds, he was not able to completely carry out his plans. The brother of his special advisor lives near our center. When he came to see his brother, he noticed that our members and our missionaries were different from the ordinary young people, and he was impressed by the hard work and example of the white missionaries. He visited our church and met with Mary Bizot and Hanna Reinbold and later introduced them to the president. As a result of this meeting, former president Dacko was especially interested in our church's training plan and wanted us to initiate one for the youth of Central Africa.
The government of the country changed recently, but when I met with officials of the new government, the same basic plan of God-centered education was accepted:
During the next ten years, we agreed to educate 7,000 young people which the government will select and send in groups of 200 every three months. Twenty-one days of spiritual education will kick off the approximately one and a half years of training. After the initial 21 days, we will pick those who show aptitude for technical training (an estimated average of 70 percent of each class).
The initial three weeks will focus on spiritual and moral education, and will also include physical education, such as martial arts. When they asked about the content of the spiritual training, I explained that it will emphasize God's existence, man's responsibility, personality development, main point of sin, and the view of history -- with explanations based on the Bible. Participants will also learn holy songs and attend Sunday services.
The technical training will be given by our members. The first six months will concentrate on agriculture, animal husbandry and fish farming. The remaining eleven months will offer a choice of classes in carpentry, bamboo furniture-making, sewing, weaving, electricity, typing, pottery, shoe-making, etc., according to people's interests and abilities. Each day will begin and end with prayer, and there will be a service on Sundays.
I also met the minister of youth and sports, who is now finalizing the plans with our missionaries. This is not a simple plan, I explained, so I asked them to select those with the best potential who can be examples for their country. We will take responsibility for their education and training, after which we will send the graduates back to the government, who will assign them to villages where they can spread what they learned among the people.
I have confidence in this program, because if these young people first learn a spiritual standard and then receive technical training, they can really support their country. The land is three times the size of Korea, but it is sparsely populated, with less than 3 million people. Until recently, its landlocked location isolated it from substantial contact with foreign countries. It has many natural resources, but the main handicap the people face is ignorance.
For our training center, the government will let us use a country estate about 60 kilometers from the capital. It already has some buildings, as well as agricultural facilities and a former army barracks with a capacity for 500 people. We need to build a hall for Sunday service or large meetings and some small and medium-sized classrooms.
Arrangements have been made for 40 hectares of land for agriculture and 10 hectares along the river for fish farming. We also asked for long-term visas for our staff and for permission to import necessary equipment without paying duty.
Work is now proceeding on preparing the facilities, and equipment is being purchased for shipment to the Central African Republic. My vision is that this program will be a model for other African countries.
On November 4 the first group of 200 students will arrive at the training center, which is called the African Foundation for Moral Renewal and Vocational Apprenticeship (FARMAP in French) of the Unification Church. For a motto, I chose "Education to Love God, Love Mankind and Love Country." Spiritual training will include Principle lectures, a little VOC and testimonies of how our members have devoted themselves to their neighbors, to their country and to God. We will also show the value of work.
Abdel Kader Mesbah from Morocco will direct the training center. After choosing him, I was surprised to learn that Central Africans really respect Morocco as a link with European culture. The Zairian family will send 24 members to be the group leaders. Abdel Kader will have four assistants: one for administration, one for spiritual training, one for technical training and one for physical education. Some of our missionaries who have backgrounds in technical fields and needed a new assignment (such as Otmar Graml, Juergen Reinbold and Naoki Izumikawa) will teach on the staff.
These recent developments are not the direct result of our members' efforts, but actually are the fruit of Father's long years of labors to open the door for God's blessing to all mankind. I urged our members in the Central African Republic to strive to be examples to their country in terms of loyalty, determination and sacrifice.