TATENDA International’s travel team encourage Youth Development  within the contexts in which they serve. When traveling as a team, Karen Duffy, a Co-Founder who has worked in a Group Home for adolescent males for more than 10 years, offers her expertise with youth.  Dr. Verploegen’s expertise in establishing youth ministry programs in western Montana is also offered to high schools, training workshops, and skills development programs. This work incorporates music, song, input, roleplays, and dialogue on the challenges youth face.

The team has presented such topics as: “How to Make Good Decisions In Difficult Times” and “Integrity As A Way of Living.”  Additional topics include peer pressure and drug and alcohol risks and dependency.

While cultural realities influence African youth in a unique way, there are similarities that bind all human beings. Some questions around identity, life choices, and living a healthy, spiritually grounded existence are universal. TATENDA International’s team facilitates a process where teens can explore these questions and come to better answers to enrich them as individuals, as well as contribute to a vibrant and strong society.

In its initial two years, the team gave talks in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Board President Karen Duffy presented the keynote address for National Youth Day in Mount Kenya in August 2008.

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