BIRTH OF PHOLA ORGANISATION
PHOLA organization was founded in 2016.
It was formed to address the problems associated with trauma and its resultant effects on children,women, and their families and communities. Many people especially women and children face significant abuse, exploitation, and a violation of their rights. These experiences leave them trapped in negative identity conclusions about themselves. They introduce self-hate, a sense of futility, victimhood, guilt, and shame, and often isolate themselves from others. Those affected end up living their lives in un-preferred ways and are not able to achieve their full potential in life. Their quality of life is diminished as they inhabit the negative and unfulfilling dominant stories about their identity. Trauma and its resultant effects can lead to very thin understandings of oneself and one’s life. It can consume a person’s energy for life and recruit people into living their lives with great fear, sadness, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, loneliness, isolation, etc. To further complicate matters those affected are usually subjected to trauma tools and methodologies that are imported from the west and therefore fall out of their belief and value systems.

PHOLA through its work and programs seeks to pursue counseling and therapeutic practices that are people-centered. People affected by hardships, abuse, and trauma possess knowledge and skills about overcoming their problems. These skills and knowledge need to be honored and recognized and applied in solving their problems so as to avoid psychological colonization of people affected by significant hardships.

PHOLA partners with children, women, girls, men, families, and communities to design therapeutic counseling tools and methodologies that are culturally appropriate and honor their experiences, skills, and knowledge in dealing with family problems.

Trauma and its resultant effects if not addressed lead to poor quality of life, poor developmental outcomes for children, ongoing emotional and mental problems, and nonsocial behaviors that can lead to harm to self and others as well as poor health outcomes for those affected.

PHOLA believes that intervening to address these highly intangible processes is essential for human survival and gives children and adults an opportunity to pursue preferred identity and healthy functioning of the mind resulting in improved personal and social outcomes for those affected andthose around them.