Family Parliament(FP) correspondents were at the just concluded module 2 session of The Rapha Healthy Living Institute(HLI) to interview randomly some set of people about the School, their personal experiences and their testimonies.

We met with Engineer Ernest Mbanefo, the Dean of the School who also doubles as a Lecturer of the Institute.


Engineer Ernest Mbanefo
Dean, Rapha Healthy Living Institute

FP: Good afternoon Sir, can we meet you please?
DEAN: I am Ernest Mbanefo, an Engineer by training. I became Rev. Tony Akinyemi’s student about 9years ago and I have seen my health and that of my family changed through his simple bible-based health teachings. We are stronger, healthier, I have been able to impact other lives through the truth I know about healthy living and I have testimonies to back it up.

FP: Sir, can you tell us how you get to know Rev. Tony?
DEAN: I met him 11years ago as a Christian and my experience with him got my attention. I have had the privilege to sit under his teachings which caught my attention because he has a simple way of making people see why health is better than healing. I followed his recommendations through and eliminated all the things he talked about that are slowly destroying our health. I started to listen more and my children have never had malaria. No health challenge in my family, so I became an Evangelist for healthy living to other people. I followed him, read his books, attended his seminars and listened to him on television.

FP: Being a learned person, with what’s obtainable in our society where people are so resistant to change but would rather prefer to follow the status quo, how was it easy for you to accept him totally, change your lifestyle, diet and that of your family and how have you been able to convince people?
DEAN: I fully agree with you, all of us respond differently to change. Most would rather stay with the old way which they believe they know. Taking people away from the familiar to do the unfamiliar takes a lot of effort. These are part of the reasons why doing the unfamiliar is hard for people;
1. Habit: we are creatures of habit and so we find it difficult to accept new things
2. People don’t just want to change which as you have said, they are resistant to change.
3. They believe what the Doctors prescribe because Doctor said the way to go is drug, they have to follow that.
But, reality is God the manufacturer gave us His prescriptions which are easy and are His standards for healthy living. (Genesis 1:29), When followed they are beneficial and I’ve seen the result just by simple proposition that are not complex. To convince people is easy because my life and that of my family is passing the right message.

FP: You talked about right and wrong breathing during your lecture, Sir how can one breathe wrongly?
DEAN: It’s based on the principle that God gave functions to every part of our body. Nose is for breathing and stomach is for digestion. The right way to breathe is to breathe in through the nose which warms it, filters the air then send it to the lungs where nitic oxide a vasodilator is produced to help in normal breathing while mouth can be used to let out the air and not breathing in through the mouth. Even during exercise, air should be taken in through the nose not mouth.

FP: Concerning exercise, some people think it is for fat people so it is difficult to get the slim ones to exercise. How true is this and what can be done?
DEAN: What they need more is education. Exercise does a lot for the body because we are created to move. Whether thin or fat, you have to engage in exercise for oxygenation and detoxification of the body. Everybody needs fat and from experience, some slim people have more fat than some fat people because their muscles have not been trained. Beside the Body Mass Index (BMI) which is the first step but not the final, Body Fat Index should be known so that you can know how fit you are. Some slim people living sedentary life with age when the muscle mass reduces, fat takes the place and they still maintain their looks.

FP: How has the School done so far and how is the acceptance by the people?
DEAN: Very good question, so far we have been creating awareness to tell people they can take charge of their health without falling sick. Responses have been great and on the average number of Student we have is 50. In 2years, we have trained over 300people with the sole aim of moving them from awareness level to becoming Ambassadors/Evangelists of Healthy Living.
One of the objectives of the school is “To help people increase their healthy years.” It is not about just living but staying healthy. Not using the money they made in Nigeria to treat sickness in India which they may never recover from when there are safer and healthier alternatives. One of the challenges is the problem in our food industry which is where people are getting stuck the most, killing themselves slowly.
The acceptance too has been very encouraging because we have results. There was a case of a Couple married for years with no issue, by just tweaking the food they eat and lifestyle; they now have twins. It’s about replacing the bad with the healthy. The school is growing and we hope one day it will cover the entire landscape.

FP: How affordable is the School?
DEAN: It’s indeed very affordable because we did a benchmark and we saw that in some places people pay more. We also give scholarship for people that are interested but have financial challenge.
Another benefit is you can leave the school and change your career. We have people with million naira businesses who got the idea from the school. There was a woman who after surviving Arthritis, started organizing seminars and also has a shop where she sells smoothies and natural juices.
It’s an investment as well as an opportunity for career change.

FP: Your general advice Sir?
DEAN: My simple advice is “Follow the healthy way because healing is costlier.” The School is open to all, so take the advantage.

FP: Thank you for giving us your time Sir
DEAN: You are always welcome and if there’s any other thing I will be glad to fill the gap.

http://www.familyparliament.com/3627/if-you-want-to-live-long-read-this-part-2