Building the future today

How long does it take to lose a generation? Ten years? Twelve?

Nowadays, I would say, just three.

Three years is long enough for a cheeky 9-year old boy to become a restless 12-year old. It’s long enough for a physically mature 11-year old girl to become a teenage mother at 14.

When we first started teaching in our neighbourhood in November 2007, we didn’t have the manpower to start special classes for the children who came, especially the weaker ones who needed so much more attention. A handful of the more mischievous boys did attend the initial classes, but soon lost interest and dropped out.

Now, three years on, many of these boys have hit puberty and sadly, some of them look set to join the ranks of unemployed young men who roam the streets aimlessly. Unless there is radical intervention, these young boys will likely be left behind, without the skills or character to contribute to their nation.

Seeing them walk around the neighbourhood aimlessly makes me sad that we weren’t able to reach out to them effectively in our early days – which is why we are stepping up our children’s programme intensively, now that the team has grown from 2 to 4.

One new initiative we are trying out is the creation of a games room. Hoping to attract more children who are not currently attending our classes, we have converted a room in the library where children can come and play games. As part of the character building process, the children have to abide by different rules. Watching the children play happily gives me the hope that perhaps, these ones will grow up under loving adult supervision, and be guided along a path of righteousness.