‘Family planning should start in temples’

After he had finished creating a man and a woman, God commanded them to multiply and conquer the world (Genesis 1:28). But resident cleric at Namitembe Ethiopian Church in Chiradzulu Pastor Yonah Wayilo Nehiya believes the current generation is exempted from the directive. I find out from Pastor Nehiya

Recently, government and donors launched a campaign targeting faith leaders in an effort to control overpopulation. Are you aware of the campaign?

Yes, I am. First, I heard about this campaign through the radio and then at village meetings that our traditional leaders have been conducting in the recent past.

Initially, I never knew that we [pastors] were supposed to lead the campaign [to control overpopulation] until when our traditional leaders told me.

When you were told that you, as a pastor, will be at the centre of this initiative, how did you react?

Well, I thought it is a big challenge, but worth trying. I particularly supported the initiative from the very first time I heard it because [I feel] overpopulation has impacted negatively on human development. We have put a lot of stress on the natural resources God gave us. Thus, I am in full support of the initiative.

But being a pastor who is supposed to propagate what God commanded Adam [to multiply and conquer the world], don’t you think you are misleading your faithful?

I don’t think so. You may wish to know that even God himself would not be happy to see us multiplying without regard to the stress we are putting on the resources he gave us.

The call [to multiply] was relevant in the days of first human creation. However, this is not the case today when we have almost conquered the world as evidenced by inadequacy of resources to support our livelihood.

Since the campaign was launched, how do you craft your homilies to ensure issues of overpopulation are included?

I wish you had the opportunity to attend our services to appreciate how I do it. As a pastor and a Malawian who has lived most of his life in the village, I know that one of the drivers of overpopulation is child/early marriages. We have too many cases of child marriages in Malawi.

And if we are serious about addressing overpopulation, we must start by addressing child marriages. In my sermons, I always warn followers, especially the youth, against early marriages. I also advise couples to plan their families against the resources they have to ensure they have healthy families.

Although the campaign has come a bit late, it should inspire faith leaders to promote family planning services. I have come to believe that family planning issues should start in churches because believers who cannot properly look after their children put God’s name to shame.

What is the ideal number of children a family needs to have?

I would suggest three children per family. If this is not enough and depending on the availability of resources, a family may have more, but the number should not exceed four.

How many children do you have yourself?

I have six. But you may wish to understand that I belong to an old generation when resources were not as scarce as they are today. Life was very cheap then. Thus, most parents could not worry about how to care for their children even if they bore as many as a football team.

This is not the case today. Everything is expensive. Farmland is becoming a hard-to-access resource for every family nowadays. This is the reason I am supporting the campaign.