Frederick carries anti-violence message to Central America, Africa

Since developing the “Men in the Mirror” and “Couples in the Mirror” curricula to combat domestic violence, Kevin Frederick has personally instructed Presbyterian ministers in the use of the materials in both Guatemala and Malawi.

Earlier this year, Frederick and nine other delegates from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina traveled to the African nation of Malawi, where they investigated the impact of the total withdrawal of USAID funding ordered by President Trump.

While there, Frederick led 18 seminary students and their wives in a three-day “Men in the Mirror” training.

Ten pastors and their wives also were trained by Frederick in the use of “Couples in the Mirror” curriculum, which seeks to empower pastors’ wives in the critical role of being educators in their churches.

“It was truly humbling to see the impact of these resources on the lives of so many people and on the relationships within congregations between men and women,” Frederick said. “As the author of these materials, I stand in awe at their impact.”

Frederick has also made several trips to Guatemala to train pastors there in how to best use the “Men in the Mirror” and “Couples in the Mirror” curricula.

Such efforts are especially needed in Latin America, Frederick said, due to the idea of “machismo” or hyper-masculinity that marks the culture there.

In a previous interview Frederick said, “Having a place where men can talk freely about what it means to be a man is sorely needed in all cultures.” Men, he noted, are taught to be in competition with one another and therefore tend not to express thoughts that might reveal their vulnerability.

“We really don’t trust each other as men to engage in much deep and personal dialogue about what it means to be a man,” he said.

Often, in Guatemalan homes, women do all the cleaning, cooking, childcare, and laundry duties. If men will learn to share in these duties, Frederick said, household tensions will be reduced.

In addition to his “Men in the Mirror” and “Couples in the Mirror” curricula, Frederick has more recently developed a “Police Officers and Chaplains in the Mirror” curriculum with the aid of Valdese Police Chief Marc Sharpe.

These devotions and case studies target issues the chaplains and police officers face surrounding not only domestic violence, but a variety of crisis interventions which they routinely face in their line of duty.