DELES Phases One and Two were held at the National Renewal Centre, Iva-Valley, Enugu from February 10 - 21, 2019. Forty (40) participants from the following Congregations were in attendance: 13 Novices of the Order of Friars Minor (CAPUCHIN, from Benin City, Edo State), 5 Marist Brothers (Awka and Uturu in Abia State), 2 Sisters of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ (Osun and Imo States), 12 Novices of the Society of Jesus (JESUIT, in Benin City, Edo State), 7 Postulants of the Sisters of Notre Dame (Fugar-Auchi, Edo State) and a Priest from Uromi diocese (Rev. Fr. Dr. Patrick Ehizokhale).

It was a ten-day intensive residential training facilitated by Joe and Amaka from DELES Office, Enugu using the Psycho Social Method (PSM) of Professor Paulo Friere’s philosophy of education as a pedagogy of learning tool that is engaging, facilitative and enables participants arrive at conclusions. The training helped participants to acquire and improve knowledge, skills and attitudes towards work and community related tasks. Participants were also led to discover intellectual and other imbedded abilities, skills in surviving toxic work environment, effective communication (building trust and dialogue in groups and communities), leadership and participation (the group as the place of forgiveness and growth), creative use of opposition, and individual and collective responses to building a just society through the facilitation tasks of phase Two.

Although the two weeks training was crashed into ten (10) days and energy draining workshop having to put in seven hours each day, participants were able to visit the Pauline Bookshop at the Holy Ghost Cathedral and the Shoprite Mall in the heart of the City of Enugu through an organized three hours group outing to ease off tension and as a sightseeing for the first timers to the State.