Several years ago, a psychiatrist in Zimbabwe, named Dr. Dixon Chibanda, became concerned about the number of people in his country who needed, but could not afford, basic mental health services. He recruited some older, retired women and trained them to serve as “first responders” to these very people for whom he was concerned.
His idea was that they would get some benches, place them in places where there would be lots of public traffic, and get these trained older women to sit on the benches at various times each week. The hope was that people would sit down, and conversations could happen. He called it “talk therapy to the underserved.” He decided to call these benches “mental health benches” and had that phrase painted on them.
The first year, only 14 people sat down for “talk therapy.” In a meeting he had with the older women, he asked for ideas to make this project work better. The women suggested they be called “grandmothers” and that the benches be called “Friendship Benches.”
That changed everything. Fast forward a few years, and last year there were 3,000 “grandmothers” who had over 300,000 “talk therapy sessions in Zimbabwe.” The movement has spread to at least six different countries, including a few places in the United States.
You may know that HIV is a serious issue in many places in Africa, including Zimbabwe. But there are drugs now, thanks in part to the George W. Bush administration and the Clinton Global Initiative, that are relatively inexpensive and can hold the virus back from what it once was.
A very scientific study was done in Zimbabwe at the university where Dr. Chibanda teaches. They compared two groups – one group had people on the drug who went to traditional therapy; the other group had people on the drug who went to Grandma’s Friendship Bench therapy. The friendship therapy group, they determined, was three times more likely to keep the AIDS virus under control than the more traditional therapy group.
I heard this story on the news in the middle of the night last week, on the very day day my preacher asked me if I would do the communion meditation on Sunday, 16 February. It immediately came to mind that what if, on these Sunday mornings where we stop for a moment, think, pray, meditate, and partake of this loaf and cup which Jesus declared to be His body and blood, we might think of ourselves as sitting on a friendship bench with Jesus. I did some Google research and learned more about Friendship Benches. The Zimbabwean word Dr. Chibanda uses to describe the need for such benches is kufungisisa – and it means “thinking too much.”
If you and I “think too much” about the world we are living in, its challenges and pains – which it is hard not to do these days – we probably need a little “talk therapy” from Jesus Himself on a regular basis, and He is willing to sit on a friendship bench with us in moments like this.
After all, in John 15:15, Jesus says, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (RSV)
We might even encourage others to come and sit on the bench with Jesus on Sunday mornings.
Wye gave the above communion meditation at Legacy Christian Church in Senoia, Georgia, on Sunday, February 16.
Image by Albrecht Fietz from Pixabay
Wye Huxford 