Mentoring boy child key to fighting vices

Since ancient times, male children have benefited from a society that provided mentorship and direction.

Most communities had rites of passage that taught boys the values of strength, and chastity and cultivated ideals.

But this is slowly changing as the rigours of modern life catch up with society.

Globalisation, advances in technology and the desire to survive have denied the boy child in Kenya proper avenues for survival, life skills and growth.

RESPONSIBILITY

Boys are now giving in to drug abuse, immorality and crime at the expense of education, sports and the arts.

It is against this backdrop that Britam Plc felt obliged to join the Nairobi Catholic Church Archdiocese to support an initiative titled, ‘Beacon Boy-child’ project’, whose objective is to raise a responsible boy child.

The issue of the struggling boy child is quite close to my heart.

I have experienced the dire impact of the forgotten boy child in our offices, homes, schools and social gatherings.

MENTORS

Out of the total Kenyan population of about 47 million, 30 per cent are boys.

A staggering 70 of this population is under 14, and 30 per cent between 15 and 24.

These are our future priests, fathers, husbands to our daughters, corporate owners and leaders, political and economic decision makers.

But boys have found themselves struggling to fit into these roles for lack of enough mentors and role models.

Absentee fathers torn away by the ever-demanding corporate world, alcohol and drugs sometimes exacerbate the situation.

CHALLENGES

The result is a weak, unguided, depressed, insecure and lonely man, often associated with vices such as drug and substance abuse, sexual abuse and school dropouts.

The real impact is felt in the broken marriages, single parent homes, struggling corporates, poor priesthood vocation uptake, poverty, unemployment and dependency with ripple effects on the economic and political scenes. So what is the solution?

The remedy is to invest in initiatives that transform the boy into a responsible man.

We should, however, be careful not to focus too much on the boys, neglecting girls.

GIRL CHILD
This could erode the progress achieved in the advancement of girl child in the past decade.

Activists, schools and the government have worked together to assist girls and unshackle the chains preventing them from fulfilling their potential.

Confidence has been restored, the girl child’s esteem recovered, her place in society reclaimed.

The “girl focus” might have been guided by the notion that the boy holds the natural strength in the society today, the strength to handle challenges and hardships.

We might have forgotten that a boy is just as vulnerable as a girl, and they are also prone to a lot of the suffering.

SOCIETY

This neglect may partially explain why boys find solace in alcohol and drug abuse, and crime.

We need a balanced approach so that as we assist boys we do not ignore girls.

Having a responsible boy child is a win-win for our society as it also ensures that the girl child is not left behind.

As a Catholic nun keeps reminding us, “Educate a woman, and you educate a village, but educate a man, you educate a generation”.

CATHOLIC CHURCH
We need to mentor our boys to transform them into responsible men, by instilling in them the virtues of courage and self-esteem and empowering them to live a value-based life.

We laud the Catholic Men’s Association for accepting the challenge of transforming the boy child and appeal to other organisations to support such initiatives.

I give my commitment both as an individual and the head at Britam, to support this journey of transforming the boy child into a responsible man.

Dr Wairegi is the group managing director at Britam Holdings PLC. [email protected]