Working on Relationships Brings New Life
September 30, 2022
Cigarettes are bad and cause disease and death. We continued to present the Transformational Community Development (TCD) programme in Shubra El-Kheima, Cairo. Jumana, a child, shared, “Papa smokes cigarettes and spends a lot of money on them, but because of it, he coughs and coughs. After I took a lesson here about cigarettes and learnt that cigarettes are bad enough to cause illness and death, I came home and begged Baba to stop smoking, but he was not satisfied. Mama and I hide the packs of cigarettes, so he goes to get others. When he and his friends smoke a cigar, I do not sit with them because of passive smoking. When he is alone and smokes a cigarette, we say, ‘Wrong, Baba, you are hurting yourself and harming us with you,’ so he gets up and smokes at the apartment window.”
I asked Jumana if she had explained the lesson to her father, and she said no. I explained to her that she must explain the lesson to her father because his thoughts must change. When his thoughts change, his behaviour will also change. She said, “Yes, I will do this, and I will not stop talking to Baba until he stops smoking cigarettes, because it causes disease and death.”
Among the lessons offered in the TCD programme for women are lessons on relationships. Huda said, “I am a woman who has reached the age of fifty, and I have not seen anyone who cares about me and listens to me when I am upset or in difficult circumstances. There is no one here in life who hears me in my problems and worries, and I have no relationships with others. I am an independent person, and I feel alone. After I heard the lesson in the TCD development meeting, I decided to get out and build relationships between me and my family and friends and hear them in their circumstances. I needed someone to listen and encourage me, so I decided to start on my own because listening to others builds relationships between them and gives them a chance to hear me, too. I have started to change myself in my relationship with my husband and children, and I will listen to them in order to strengthen our relationship with each other.”
Thank you,
Written by: Azmy, Hanaa, & Miriam
GHNI TCD Workers
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