First Lady Jeannette Kagame on Sunday joined Kay Warren, spouse to American evangelist Rick Warren, and more than 300 members of Saddleback Church in California for the church’s monthly conversations, which revolved around addressing mental health. Addressing the Saddleback community, Mrs. Kagame thanked Kay Warren for the invitation to join this month’s conversation, “to learn how to deal with mental health issues, which are often suffered in silence.” She also thanked Rick Warren, the Senior Pastor at Saddleback Church and his spouse, for standing by the nation and people of Rwanda during its most difficult times. The First Lady expressed gratitude for Rwanda’s ability to navigate its diverse challenges and being where the nation is today, through the grace of God. Warren, who sits on the Presidential Advisory Council of President Paul Kagame, is the founder of the PEACE Plan initiative, a network of church members through which local churches and leaders are empowered. Warren, a globally renowned American evangelist, started the PEACE Plan after President Kagame invited him in 2004 to extend the initiative to Rwanda. PEACE Plan works to involve every Christian and every church in countries where they operate in the task of serving people in the areas of the greatest global needs. Meanwhile, at the event, Dan Adams who was the speaker of the day showed how a positive, proactive, and upstream approach to care using social networks can ultimately prevent bullying, substance misuse and suicide. “We really need to move upstream to prevent people from getting in crisis,” Adams who is the Director of Training from Sources of Strength, a globally recognized suicide prevention program in Colorado, said. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
