Pule Pule is a postgraduate degree student at the Institute of Christian Psychology. He is an aspiring Christian Psychologist who has undertaken a long and interesting journey in order to fulfill his dream. Pule has faced many challenges in the pursuit of his goals: “God took me from somebody who has nothing and helped me... I didn’t have anything. I came here by train, then I took a taxi and then I walked the rest of the way. But I didn’t mind. There were many challenges for me but I was strengthened by God…I didn’t lose hope. If God gives you a passion and wants you to be something there is nothing that can change that.” Pule understands the value of integrating the Christian belief system with psychology and has been able to help many people in need. “I’ve met many people who have died from HIV... who are bedridden and 100% of the people that I saw have allowed me to pray for them. So when a person is in pain he wants God whether he believes in Him or not.” He has also been able to apply skills obtained in his studies at the ICP in the workplace. “What I’ve learnt here, I took and wrote a business plan for a home based care programme, and also a voluntary counselling testing project. And I was told that my business plan was the best among all the applicants. Then I got funding because I used the approach of writing an assignment. I was granted R250 000 to run the project.” But above all his heart is set on reaching the lost. “But we’ve got a main aim – to see people converting to Christ. I took psychology and counselling techniques and I’ve tried by all means to integrate them into a Christian belief system. Now I’m already a leader in counselling in my community.” Pule has mainly equipped himself to reach those in his community. “With my BPsych [degree] I will know how to approach my community. I know I won’t change everybody, but if I can at least get one out of a hundred I’ll be happy, because those people will also influence others.”
