In this episode of The John Henry Weston Show, host J. Henry Weston is joined by Asham Songwe, a pro-life, pro-family politician in Malawi, to discuss the anti-gay legislation passed in Uganda and its implications for the rest of Africa.
00:00:00.000When you hear the West and those who are advancing this alien practice saying LGBT members are being persecuted or are being hated, it's not correct.
00:00:12.060They're not hating the people that are practicing it, they're hating the practice.
00:00:18.660Hey, my friends, I wanted to give you an inside look into politics inside of East Africa, where, I mean, you know, we just saw Uganda has passed and now signed this law, this anti-homosexuality bill, as they called it.
00:00:40.820And there's a lot of fluff in the media as to what that's about.
00:00:44.560And I wanted to give you an inside look from an actual member of parliament in Africa.
00:00:51.640And this is a member of parliament that I'm going to bring you today.
00:00:58.080He's actually one of the leading pro-life, pro-family politicians in Malawi.
00:01:03.740He's also one of the representatives to the ACPEU treaty.
00:01:09.900And that is the African, Caribbean and Pacific, together with the European Union.
00:01:15.860So I want to give you this inside glimpse so you can hear for yourself what the politicians in Africa think about this legislation and about the attack on the family coming from the West.
00:02:02.440And at these times of great crisis, the Church, especially those called in the laity to work for the glory of Christ and His Church, are called to gather and strategize.
00:02:16.060Back in 2014, LifeSite launched something called Rome Life Forum.
00:02:19.520It was a gathering at that point of some 75 life and family leaders from all around the world to strategize as to what we could do.
00:02:28.360And when we gathered, the majority of people were most concerned about what?
00:02:32.700About Pope Francis, about what was going on in Rome.
00:02:38.600But the life and family leaders saw it first.
00:02:41.720Now, a decade on, we are confronted with some of the most severe challenges the Church has ever faced.
00:02:50.360And so, our tradition at LifeSite is to continue with Rome Life Forum, which has continued every year until we had to take a break over COVID because we weren't permitted.
00:03:52.840So, Honourable Songwe, there is much talk in the West about what's going on in Africa, especially in Southeast Africa, where you are there in Malawi.
00:04:02.940Tell us, if you can, about the passage of the bill in Uganda and what kind of effect that's having on the rest of Africa.
00:04:12.260Yeah, indeed, John Henry, as you have indicated, most recently, there has been a new wave sweeping on the eastern and central and southern African part of the African continent.
00:04:27.680More so as it relates to the stand that the lawmakers, whom I would describe as progressive lawmakers, pro-life lawmakers, trying to take in defending the family, in defending the principles of life as designed and ordained by God.
00:04:49.720And looking at the events in Uganda, it's phenomenal.
00:04:55.420And I think Uganda has set a standard that every other country on the African continent will now be desiring to apply and to make sure it happens in their own country.
00:05:10.640You would recall that in the parliament of Uganda, a private member, a private member in the sense that the bill that was introduced in Uganda did not come from the executive, not come from the cabinet.
00:05:26.000It came from a private member, was able to move a bill that, in summary, bans the practice of same-sex marriages.
00:05:38.940And it comes with the related offenses and punishments for such offenses.
00:05:45.440So, indeed, what has happened in Uganda, everybody has been talking about it, that indeed it is something that we need to be considering in other national parliaments.
00:05:59.180I suffice to say that the decision taken by the Ugandan parliament and eventually the signing into a law by the president, it should not be taken lightly.
00:06:11.560It has got serious implications on the country of Uganda in the eyes of the West, in the eyes of the donors.
00:06:21.100But I am encouraged to see that President Kaguta Yoel Mseven is so determined and bold that he has been able to tell the West to say, look here, this is our country.
00:06:35.300You cannot tell us what to do and how to do it.
00:06:38.140That which we fear, we fear is fit for this country.
00:06:42.540We should be able to do that without any much interference.
00:06:46.220You know, one of the things that the West, I think some of the people in the West still don't believe, is the strong-arm tactics that the United States, Canada, Europe, use against Africa to stop them from following what is their own faith in God, in the scriptures, their own cultural heritage.
00:07:11.020The West tries to enforce their own version of their faith, their cultural heritage onto Africa in a way that really, and there's some of the same people that scream about, you know, safeguarding people's own cultural traditions.
00:07:31.660And yet they are forcing the really backwards cultural tradition of the West onto Africa.
00:07:42.060You are on spot, but what is happening by the West in terms of imposing Western culture, exporting foreign culture onto the African continent, it's nothing less than a neo-colonialization.
00:08:03.520You know, in a way that you're still trying to dictate in terms of what gets to be done and how it gets to be done and when it gets to be done at this modern age, it is unacceptable.
00:08:17.780On this particular issue regarding the same-sex marriage and the banning of it in Uganda, and I'm sure many other countries are going to be considering it, what I find very hypocritical
00:08:34.020and very unfortunate is the fact that in the Middle East, in the Arab countries, the penalties that are there are very extreme, very extreme death penalty for anybody engaged in same-sex marriages.
00:08:53.780And you tend to wonder, in Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, in the United Arab Emirates, but we have never heard the West leaders saying anything, let alone a threat coming out with a threat about sanctions.
00:09:14.220And we tend to wonder when they apply selective, I wouldn't say justice, but selective management of these issues.
00:09:24.060They want to treat Africa as if like, you know what, we're going to force down your throat anything we want because you still depend on us for aid.
00:09:34.560And for the Middle East, because they are economically independent, I guess they don't have any leeway, they don't have advantage.
00:09:42.600So the point is, is it the justice they want to pursue, or it is simply because they hold the purse, and they think because they are holding the purse, they can dictate anything to whosoever receives their aid.
00:09:58.360Is that what we want to be reading by this selective handling of the issue?
00:10:03.840You would have loved to hear the West coming very strong, condemning the same practice that is being done in the Middle East, because this issue is a taboo.
00:10:17.280This issue is a no, it's a no-nonsense issue.
00:10:21.840It cannot be allowed in any way in the Middle East, let alone in Muslim countries.
00:10:29.840But when independent, southern states are exercising their right to determine what is good for their nation, and then you hear the West crying the loudest.
00:10:45.720Yet when we are grappling with other serious challenges, for example, we have poor infrastructure, maybe in schools or in health facilities, these are the real social problems, socioeconomic problems that would have loved them to be getting more concerned, but they don't pay much attention.
00:11:06.280They really want us to be apportioning our time, our energies, stopping everything, and to tackle a problem that is being deliberately induced.
00:11:24.240This is something that is a lifestyle that somebody wants to pursue.
00:11:29.740And to some extent, it is to do with people having dysfunctionality as a result of the upbringing or as a result of the environment, which can be corrected by rehabilitation and not be encouraged to continue because it is an abnormality.
00:11:53.820I'm aware of a study that was done by MIT, we know, they think I took a sample of about 500, I think, DNA or chromosomes, I mean, to study the chromosomes, the way they would behave, X and Y chromosomes, to look at the probability, or under what circumstances would the same chromosomes get attracted to each other.
00:12:19.180And that study showed that the chances were very, very thin, very, very, very narrow chances.
00:12:28.060The only factors under which these chromosomes would be attracted to each other would be the environment.
00:12:35.960And that means the pressure, peer pressure, coping, or other manner of external forces.
00:12:45.300but it's not something that is inborn. It's not something that is part of a human being when they
00:12:51.760are born. In other ways, this is a problem that must be cured and not be encouraged to continue.
00:13:01.200It is a problem. And the West need to understand it in that context.
00:13:06.140And if only the West could just understand it from the context of this is a sovereign nation,
00:13:12.460they can do what they want. We shouldn't be interfering. And if they're choosing
00:13:17.180to be the global police on everything they want, why not start with some of the massive
00:13:24.460persecutions that's going on, as you mentioned, in the Muslim countries against Catholics and
00:13:32.720Christians everywhere, also in China. But they don't say a word about these massive atrocities
00:13:39.180going on there. They have their pet project here with this and want to, as you said,
00:13:46.680they're neocolonizing again. It's just unbelievable. But tell us about Malawi. You're in Malawi. How
00:13:54.560is the passage of the Ugandan law affecting you there? And what's going on with the whole scene
00:14:00.720or attack against the family in Malawi? What has taken place in Uganda is indeed having an impact
00:14:08.480in Malawi. The passing of the bill in Uganda comes at the backdrop of when the courts in Malawi
00:14:18.020have been moved to make judgment on the application that has been done by a couple. One is a transgender,
00:14:28.780a Malawian, and another one, a German national, I think. They have gone to the court, and that
00:14:35.220indeed they want the court to agree with them that it is acceptable for people of the same
00:14:44.460sex to enter into marriage. To some of us as lawmakers, we see it as testing the waters.
00:14:51.660Those who are advancing these foreign, these alien ideologies, they're trying to use a back door.
00:15:00.100They're trying to force the hand of the court to legitimize by saying, yes, it is acceptable,
00:15:07.100acceptable so that they can walk away with a case law because they know laws must be passed
00:15:15.260in parliament. But not always that laws would come from parliament, but also laws would come
00:15:21.580from the courts when they make a ruling with a class ruling or a very, very unique ruling on something
00:15:30.780that was controversial. And in the manner they pass, it becomes acceptable as a law. And I think this is
00:15:38.700the idea that is being pursued by the people by advancing these alien and acceptable and the foreign
00:15:48.220ideologies. I don't have any better word to say except to say this is a problem. The way to cure this
00:15:56.700problem is people must seek help. They need to be rehabilitated. They need to receive therapy,
00:16:05.180you know, to help them with their mind, to help them with a lifestyle change, because it cannot happen.
00:16:13.260It's abnormal. As a Christian, as a Christian myself, and indeed, as a Christian nation, Malawi,
00:16:22.140this is unacceptable. And I know for a fact, the legislature, they are watching keenly in terms of
00:16:29.660what is happening at the court. And the reason probably both the executive and the court and the
00:16:36.860legislature have not come out early to pronounce themselves is because of the respect for the
00:16:43.900separation of powers. Since the matter is in court, it hasn't yet been adjudicated. So you can't be seen
00:16:52.140to be preempting or being prejudiced on such a case.
00:17:00.460Do you have any understanding of who might be behind such a move to try and move it in through
00:17:08.620the court system rather than through the legislature? And what plans do pro-life, pro-family members of
00:17:18.700parliament, have in case the court rules the wrong way on this question?
00:17:24.220The practice itself is alien, it's foreign. It's not in our culture, it's not in our tradition,
00:17:33.260and it's not in our religious practice. So because it's foreign, obviously it has come from outside.
00:17:39.740There could be organizations that are ready to provide resources to make sure these things get
00:17:50.300acceptable or get legalized in this part of the world. So I would like to believe that there are
00:18:00.940foreign agents, foreign entities that are probably using local people to make it as if it's a local,
00:18:09.420as if it's a local affair, but it is, you know, an issue that's coming from outside.
00:18:15.420And it has been well calculated, as I've just indicated. It's a well calculated move when
00:18:22.140to stage it, and how to pursue it, like by coming through the courts. Now, amongst the parliamentarians,
00:18:33.660many of the parliamentarians are watching this particular case with keen interest, and some of
00:18:39.820them have made it very clear. In the unlikely event that the courts pass a judgment that seemed to accept
00:18:47.500to endorse or validate the same marriage sex, the parliament would waste no time than to come up
00:18:58.620with a bill that would be banning such a practice. So that's the kind of showdown that you can be expecting.
00:19:09.660So, but as I say, the parliament is not saying this in an official way because
00:19:16.940parliament doesn't want to be accused that it has been prejudiced in terms of, you know,
00:19:22.460interfering while a matter is before the courts. One of the things that, in the West, people are trying
00:19:29.180to paint anyone who would be against same-sex marriage as haters and bigots and such. How would you
00:19:37.180respond to such accusations? All those who are making all these arguments, they are premising it on the
00:19:43.820basis of human rights. But when you have a chance to go through the Human Rights Charter of the UN,
00:19:52.700you don't come across the issue of same-sex marriage being a right. First of all,
00:19:58.620we need to make sure this is not a right, it is a wrong. And the way we must correct it is by making
00:20:06.300sure people who are practicing this, they need help. They should be given help. They can't be
00:20:18.540excommunicated from the community. No, we need to embrace them. We need to give them the moral support,
00:20:24.940the spiritual support. We need to encourage them to get help. Yeah, it's an altruistic approach,
00:20:32.380which is, I mean, it's so different from what we hear in the West. It's always painted as something,
00:20:39.580oh, they hate them, they want to kill them all. And yet it's not. It's not even about excluding them
00:20:46.140from the community, it's about granting them the help they need. They need to thrive in life,
00:20:52.780in God's law, and in man's law. Because we also know, I mean, the funny thing is,
00:20:59.020here in the West, all the studies that were done actually at one point many years ago,
00:21:04.780that show the harm of homosexual sexual acts, it's very real harm. That behavior is so harmful for the
00:21:14.860human body. And yet it's not talked about. And it's recognized now seemingly only in the African
00:21:23.340countries, perhaps the Saudi Arab, you know, the Muslim countries as well. But it's amazing. I was
00:21:31.020just in late last year, I was just in Uganda and in Kenya. And there too, it's always the same approach,
00:21:39.500one of care and concern for individuals who have this disordered attraction, to help them.
00:21:47.180But, you know, if you can believe it, in Canada, in the United States, and much of Europe,
00:21:54.380help for these people who want to live normal lives, who want to come out of same-sex attraction,
00:22:00.300same-sex behavior, that kind of help by psychologists is illegal.
00:22:08.540You know that here on LifeSite, we love to tell amazing stories. There are a few so heroic and
00:22:15.500amazing as the story we're about to tell you that's coming soon. You got to watch this.
00:22:20.620When I was in seminary, I was reading a book by Henry Nowen. He talked about a nuclear man,
00:22:29.180you know, and people who grew up in the 1980s were kind of formed by that immediate and constant
00:22:35.420threat of nuclear annihilation. My generation has grown up, you know, under the specter of priestly
00:22:44.700sexual abuse. I think that for many of us that has also been all-encompassing. You know, I mean,
00:22:55.260I entered the seminary in January of 2004, and it's basically been there for me from the beginning.
00:23:05.180One priest's sacrifice for many priestly sins. The story of Father John Hollowell.
00:23:19.420I want to speak with clarity. When you hear the West and those who are advancing this alien practice,
00:23:26.700saying LGBT members are being persecuted or are being hated, it's not correct.
00:23:34.300What is correct is people abhor the practice, not the people. It is the practice, the behavior,
00:23:41.900which the community is abhorring, which the community is hurting. It's not hurting the people
00:23:47.340who are practicing it. It is the practice itself. That's why the community are saying, okay,
00:23:52.300we are ready to embrace you, to help, to make sure you get help. So you can be, stay normal,
00:23:59.500if I can use the word. They are not hurting the people that are practicing it. They are hurting the
00:24:04.460practice and think this must be understood clearly. We are against the practice. It is alien. It is
00:24:13.820against the will of God. You know, when God created man, he created man and a woman. He created them.
00:24:22.460Okay. When God created human beings, he made them man and a woman. Adam and Eve. He did not create
00:24:30.460John and James. He did not create Jane and Jennifer. He created a male and a female for a purpose of procreation.
00:24:48.300So we can dominate and have dominion over the universe. And with the same sex marriage,
00:24:57.260it is actually going against what God had designed and what God wants to happen to mankind. People are going
00:25:07.020through medical operations to alter their identities, gender identity, to alter. And a lot of them come back
00:25:18.860with serious complications. Even those who have altered so that it may be they could be able to
00:25:26.620appear as a woman and to conceive. It doesn't happen. It has never happened. And I remember the late
00:25:32.540President Robert Mugabe and God may his soul continue to rest in peace. You know, he said,
00:25:40.380if you want to practice same sex marriage, I will have to lock you up in a cell in your pairs for nine months. And after
00:25:48.300nine months, I want to see whether you'll be able to conceive. And that's the only point I will be able to
00:25:57.500endorse and accept this in my country. And that was the late Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
00:26:03.180I should be very frank with you, John Henry. I think in the message of the church,
00:26:09.740the pro-life movements, the pro-life crusaders, the youth, what we should make it very clear is that
00:26:16.220we are not hurting the individuals that have been enslaved, have been caught up in this world.
00:26:23.500We are hurting the practice. It's a malpractice.
00:26:28.620And that is, we're not, we are not hurting it. We are condemning it. It's abnormal.
00:26:34.860And those who have been entangled, you need to get super saying, come out and seek help.
00:26:40.700Help is readily available. Once you have been parched, you have been rehabilitated, you'll be back to normal life.
00:26:46.620And if you realize that most of them, most of them, they already behave that knowing that
00:26:52.700whatever they're doing is not right. They're self-judging themselves, even before people say anything.
00:27:00.220They become so defensive. They think they are always the victim.
00:27:03.500So one of the things that you haven't told us about yet, and that's about the European Union and
00:27:11.260what's going on there. We hear that there are new pressures coming against Africa.
00:27:16.460from something called the ACP-EU Treaty Partnership. Tell us about that, if you would.
00:27:23.740Yeah, John Henry, you raised a very important topic about the ACP-EU Treaty.
00:27:31.820As you would know, the countries in the African Pacific and the Caribbean regions had come together
00:27:42.060a way back in the 70s, you know, to form a block.
00:27:48.460With that block, they have been able to negotiate and engage with other countries or other organizations
00:27:57.020for social and economic development and trade and finance matters.
00:28:03.660And the association between the European Union and the member states of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific
00:28:12.300has been on the basis of trade, finance and economic development.
00:28:20.940And later on, they had to bring in the issues of democratic governance.
00:28:26.380We started with the Bridgetown Treaty, and then the Bridgetown Treaty came to a renewal in the year,
00:28:33.660in the 2000, and I think from the 2000, we got into the Cotonou Agreement.
00:28:41.340And the Cotonou Agreement, again, built, I mean, its foundations are still the same, trade, finance,
00:28:48.380and social and economic development and democratic governance.
00:28:54.460So this has been the manner in which the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific has, on one hand,
00:29:01.100has been engaging with the European Union.
00:29:03.900Now, the Cotonou Agreement was due for renewal, I think, in the year 2020.
00:29:10.300So at that point, new discussions started to look into how do we come up with a new agreement
00:29:17.500that would further this kind of relationship, but at the same time take advantage of the new emerging
00:29:24.060issues that would enhance the trade and economic development.
00:29:30.380What we didn't know is our friends on the European side, they had other ideas
00:29:35.980and they felt they would still want, you know, to use this kind of relationship and push as much as
00:29:47.340they possibly can, all those alien ideologies, agendas, because they will be embedded within an agreement
00:29:56.620that talks about trade and economic development, until you go into the fine print of the agreement.
00:30:05.660That's when you are able to see these disturbing texts contained in the agreement.
00:30:13.260And I should be quick to say, unless you have some knowledge and you have got a referencing library,
00:30:20.700some of the texts in the ACPE agreement would lead to be very innocent, non-suspecting.
00:30:28.460But when you're going to the library where such words are being defined, for example,
00:30:33.900the word comprehensive sexuality, it would sound like just fine. Until you go into the reference
00:30:41.180library, you will get to know what comprehensive sexuality means. It means all the LGBTs. When they
00:30:49.180talk about sexual reproductive health rights, it means abortions. So when we've been able to scrutinize the text,
00:31:01.100and we've come across these disturbing provisions, and we are interrogating why this is supposed to be
00:31:09.980an agreement that advances trade, finance, economic development, and democratic governance.
00:31:18.460Another disturbing point is, for some reason, there has been so much highlighting of human rights. And you know very well that in the area of human rights, it's the purview of the UN's commission on human rights.
00:31:33.980The United Nations had to set aside a specific arm that deals with issues of human rights, and that is their
00:31:42.460speciality. And you get to see some of the conditions now that are being placed in the agreement under which a consideration for granting of aid to the member states of the Africa,
00:31:55.980the Caribbean, the Caribbean, the Caribbean, the Caribbean and the Pacific would be made. They would have to meet certain criteria. And such criteria is whether they have accepted these foreign practices.
00:32:09.980The new agreement is causing a lot of anxieties amongst the member states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific.
00:32:20.460And some national parliaments like Uganda, they are making it very clear that they will not be keen to see their president signing this agreement, because at this point, it has just been
00:32:32.460initialized and only by maybe one or two foreign affairs minister who has initialized or ambassador.
00:32:40.060But it has, but the rest of the member states haven't, and let alone the heads of states have not yet signed it.
00:32:48.540But there's so much push to make sure this gets signed. And yes, we would want such an agreement, if it indeed it does not contain any toxic, poisonous text.
00:33:00.060We would want it to be passed, because it's progressive, it's going to help our relationships.
00:33:06.700And because of this relationship, we will be able, the member states from the African, Caribbean and Pacific will be able to engage in a meaningful trade, will be able to access the European market.
00:33:19.740And likewise, the products coming from the European producers will also find their way on the African, Caribbean and Pacific markets.
00:33:29.980And apart from that, also, there will be other social economic programs in the areas of health, education, agriculture, and justice.
00:33:40.040But we want this to happen without bait and switch, without conditions that would compel member states of the ACP to make compromises.
00:33:51.980As sovereign states, we want to make sure anything that seems to challenge our sovereignty, anything that seems to threaten values such as family, religious, and traditional, these are things that we can't make a compromise on.
00:34:11.620And the elements, the provisions in the treaty, they're actually targeting to threaten our sovereignty, that we can't choose for ourselves what is good for us.
00:34:23.100They are challenging our family values by introducing ideas that are going to be unacceptable in our family setup.
00:34:30.720They are challenging our traditional values.
00:34:32.820In that indeed, when we are known to be traditionalist, we should now deal our way with our traditional values and embrace foreign culture.
00:34:43.500For example, in the African culture, people, some cultures in Africa, it's acceptable for people to get into a polygamy, providing, you are able to provide for your family.
00:34:58.800The Europeans would be forcing us not to practice polygamy, and in some cases, we've made concessions.
00:35:11.240Now, we are saying, in our culture, we can't accept same-sex marriage, but they are forcing it on us.
00:35:18.800Now, I was talking about the ACP-EU treaty.
00:35:21.980So, some of the provisions, they are actually threatening the sovereignty, the values such as family, religious, and traditional values.
00:35:32.740There are specific articles that I could be citing, which are quite disturbing.
00:35:38.160Another article should be article 8081, talks about establishing a joint council of ministers from the European Union and from the African-Caribbean Pacific,
00:35:53.360who will be able to make binding decisions that will be able to be imposed on the member states.
00:36:02.140And those binding decisions, they will be challenging the already existing commitments and provisions that in the regional blocks, we have already accepted.
00:36:16.400For example, in the East and Western African ECOWAS, within their region, they have got some provisions which are good for them.
00:36:23.980But because of this new treaty, the binding decision that will come from the joint council of ministers from the ACP and the European Union would be watering down provisions and the decision that will have been put in place by the regional blocks.
00:36:44.400So, in other words, we will not have our own standing, because we will be dictated by decisions coming from the ACP-EU Joint Council of Ministers.
00:36:55.500And another observation that the member states are fearing, it appears the EU would want to use a backdoor to ride on the votes of the member states of the ACP,
00:37:09.420who are members of the UN, in advancing EU's agenda by getting the ACP members to ride behind the EU whenever it wants to raise a matter that would need maybe a vote.
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00:38:07.020If you could tell us, Honorable Songwe, I think there are still, even despite the fact that our governments are, frankly, crazy, there are a lot of people in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, who still support family values, want to support Africa.
00:38:28.620How can we do that? How can we help you from here? And what can you do to help us?
00:38:35.400One thing you are doing, I can tell you right now, by standing firm on the family values, you are helping us.
00:38:40.900You seem to be, Africa seems to be, it's like the last place on earth that's holding strong to God's law for the family.
00:38:48.120And for that very reason, you are a huge blessing to us.
00:38:54.120We need, first of all, to get as many voices to come to the party, to start making their stand clear, without any ambiguity, in terms of what we should be standing for as lawmakers, particularly Muslims and Christians.
00:39:15.200So we need to get as many progressive, willing lawmakers to come into a kind of a coalition that will be speaking in unison, whether in all manner, in all international forums.
00:39:32.200For example, those who go to the UN's International Parliamentary Union forum, they should be able to stand up and talk about in defense of life, in defense of family, in defense of culture, in defense of tradition.
00:39:49.120Those who go to the Pan-African parliament, again, they should be able to raise these matters.
00:39:55.160Those who go to the Commonwealth parliament forum, again, they should be able to raise these matters.
00:40:00.580And those of us who go to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, we should be able to raise these matters.
00:40:07.960The more voices are coming out in defense of the family, in defense of life, in defense of religion, in defense of the tradition and culture, it is when we start winning these battles.
00:40:22.860Because the forces we are contending with, one, they are well-financed.
00:41:04.860Just because we might be struggling in providing for our citizens, that should not in any way reduce us to be people who can't make decisions independently, who can't choose on what is right for us and not right for us.
00:41:26.380Number two, we need to raise awareness, awareness amongst lawmakers, awareness amongst our youth, awareness amongst our members of the faith community, awareness amongst our lawyers about it.
00:41:45.260Because lawyers, lawyers, they also need to understand these issues.
00:41:49.260Sometimes you get the impression that probably our friends in the legal fraternity, because they have the opportunity to make interpretations of what laws mean.
00:42:04.020Sometimes they are bound to make mistakes.
00:42:08.020Sometimes they are bound to make mistakes.
00:42:11.300So we need also to sensitize them about these dangerous pitfalls, about what these threats mean to the future of our families, to the future of our nations, to the future of our children.
00:42:26.780And apart from that, I think also the awareness can be raised not only in these kind of normal setups, but even also whenever there's an opportunity, people are meeting.
00:42:42.780We need to take advantage of such forums, of such places, to raise these issues.
00:42:49.780The more people are aware, the more people become aware of these intricacies, of these underhands, the way they are dealing, the manipulation, it is when now we'll start winning this war.
00:43:04.300Because in some communities, people are suspecting, they think everything is nice when they hear these programs about reproductive health, when they hear these programs about youth awake.
00:43:15.560But what they don't know is these are recruiting grounds where recruitment of the youth is taking place to get into this.
00:43:25.760I met a young man who narrated his story, a very disturbing story, how he was recruited and how he was empowered to get as many youth as they possibly came to get into this group of people that are advancing the same-sex ideologies.
00:43:48.140Apart from that, yeah, when we make these stand as lawmakers, not that we will be just left like this, there could be repercussions, serious repercussions.
00:44:05.680And if knowing that we can count on organizations that are in favor, that are standing with us, I think it is very, very comforting.
00:44:15.960Members of the faith community, members of the faith community, we need to be thinking out of the box.
00:44:21.460We should be looking at having our own facilities where we can teach our children the real values.
00:44:31.020When we let our children go to public schools where, you know, some teachers misguided, they could be indoctrinating our children with foreign ideologies.
00:44:46.240But when the churches, Christian organizations, start owning schools and we bring our children to those schools, we ground them in the family religious values, there is hope for tomorrow.
00:45:02.860Honorable Sangwe, thank you so much for standing true for God's law, for the family, for your country of Malawi and for all of Africa, and for showing us the way.
00:45:20.420And I am so grateful for this fantastic opportunity, opportunity that I was able to share with you my perspective and in terms of us to bring you up to speed in terms of what's happening in other arenas.
00:45:39.240But I am hopeful, and I've said this on numerous occasions, God is on our side.
00:45:46.440The situation might look to be blink, but God will prevail.
00:45:51.520And it is this faith that is keeping me going on this crusade.
00:45:58.200So it was a pleasure to have this very, very important discourse with you, and I thank you very much.
00:46:07.560And also, when there are opportunities for capacity building, I think it would be appreciated to make those opportunities available for capacity building, knowledge building, and also to be able to exchange the views and to exchange the happenings in our region.
00:46:26.780Thank you very much again, John Henley.