E7K – DFL Bandung Indonesia

I accompanied Bro Jason Wong to Bandung from Friday 15th Mar to Tuesday 19th Mar. Prior to this vision sharing trip, Bro Edwin Choy had trained a team of trainers to facilitate the ICAN workshop.

The program included a Parenting Workshop focusing on the role of dads for about 300 parents of a school (for the first time, majority who attended were fathers), preaching at a church service, sharing of the Dads for Life/Elijah7000 vision with a group of leaders, and a dialogue cum sharing session with 11 trained facilitators as well as some fathers who had attended the ICAN workshop conducted by these newly minted trainers.

There was much resonance for the Dads for Life vision to be introduced in Bandung to reach and impact more dads. The Parenting Seminar saw precious tips being shared, and Bro Jason and I also had many good opportunities to interact with the father champions with in-depth discussions over meals.

Here are some of the precious reflections of change from the trainers and their participants:

• became more involved and active as a father
• ⁠started taking the kids out on his own even when the wife is not free
• ⁠less easily angered by kids, more self-control.
• ⁠supported the wife to spend time with child
• shared more about what is happening in his personal life with his children so his children know their father better
• ⁠became more aware and involved by discussing more things with the children
• ⁠received feedback from his children on what they wanted him to stop doing
• ⁠”my children reminded me” to be more consistent
• ⁠”changed the way I thought about my own father. After the workshop, I remembered many of the good things my father did for me.”
• ⁠”the workshop brought many other fathers to encourage me in my journey as a father”
• “⁠I now know what I need to reconcile with my father.”

On a personal note, there are a few things I need to start doing very consciously. These include:
-turn the “thumbs-down” 👎 back to “thumbs-up”👍🏻
-turn the 🫵 pointing finger to thumbs-up 👍🏻 again
-rules + relationship = response
rules – relationship = rebellion

Bro Ying Hwee