BOYCHILD EMPOWERNMENT
After a deep reflection, I was led to a crucial question: “What
is the root cause of the serious problems we are discussing today?” Among
these, femicide stood out as a persistent and troubling issue. Reports of women
being murdered continue to dominate media headlines. I felt compelled to go
beyond the surface and investigate: What is the underlying problem? Who are
the victims? Who are the perpetrators? And what drives individuals to commit
such inhumane acts?
The media often points to men as the main perpetrators, which
raised further questions for me: What is happening in their lives that leads
to such extreme violence? Are there social, psychological, or cultural
pressures pushing them to this point? To answer these questions, I decided
to conduct interviews with both men and women to gain a clearer, more balanced
understanding.
Rather than relying on secondary sources, I chose to hear
directly from those most affected. I believe it is essential to hear from the
"horse's mouth" to capture authentic and diverse perspectives. My
interviews were conducted across various backgrounds, allowing youth, the
protagonists, to share their views openly on the challenges facing the
boy-child and broader societal issues.
Equipped with my audio recorder, video camera, and lapel microphones,
I moved around, interviewing young and not so young, gathering firsthand
accounts. Both men and women freely expressed their thoughts, offering deep
insights into the struggles of boys and men. Additionally, I participated in
some of the interviews myself to not only sharpen my video interviewing skills but
also to personally connect with the emotions and stories being shared. I too,
live in the society and I have experienced the social dynamics that exist.
This hands-on approach helped me collect valuable, firsthand
information, while the diverse perspectives from multiple interviewees added
credibility and depth to my research. The insights gained have provided
meaningful pointers to address the broader societal issues impacting both
genders. Watch and listen the interview in order to share this deep insight.
Isaac Maina Kirigwi
MCS Student
Multimedia University of Kenya.
___________________________________________________________________________________
[Intro Music Plays]
[Youth voices on the
background]
Host: Isaac Kirigwi
We are here at Do n Bosco Youth Educational Services and
to day were having games like Basketball and many people are around here and
they are enjoying the moment. They have been hare having this league for a
number of days.
We are talking today about Boy Child and he is going to
tell us about this topic, Boy Child
Interviewee 1
My name is Edward Mzee. I am a mental health advocate and I
deal mostly with men’s health.
Host: Isaac Kirigwi
What would you like to tell us about Boy Child today?
Interviewee 1
The boy Child has been neglected
and this has had detrimental effect to his confidence as a man. A good number
of them grew up not really knowing what they want in life or their real space
in life as when they will become men. I think there has been so much campaign
towards women empowerment and completely forgotten about the Boy Child and now
we have men who are more of boys than men because now they are growing up not
knowing where their space is, where their place is in society and now it
becomes a challenge to have real leaders both in the society and in the family
setting. The same energy that is geared towards the women empowerment should also
be geared towards the Boy Child. And then
we need to realize in as much as there was a long period of time where
it was more of a patriarchal system, let us not forget that we cannot plant a
new tree and not take care of the old one. We just need to make sure that there
is a balance in between the empowerment process.
[Background Music]
Gladys Wanjiru
In our society, girls are taken
to be more powerful than boys in terms of responsibilities, in terms of
opportunities, but I will also love to say that these men might be our
brothers, our fathers, our uncles so we should treat them equally. But I celebrate
them today because they are doing a great job out here although they are not
speaking out their problems. Some they die due to depression, some commit
suicide. I am speaking out to day to tell them that they can do it and it is
possible to come clean.
Frank
We, boys, will feel more
respected if we are empowered just as much as girls are been empowered these
days. We should have equal opportunities for both boys and girls.
Valerie Karyn Nabwire
If we empower the boys as we have done for the girls, and also not forgetting that we have made achievement for the girls, while empowering the boys, then we will have mitigated femicide.
Sr. Henriette Anne
I consider the topic of the talk
of Boy Child Empowerment to be taken seriously, and if possible, it is
something that we need to introduce, not only to talk about it in our families,
but also in our instates, maybe learning institutes or different organizations
that are empowering Girl child, also to come up and empower Boy Child.
Frank Wachiuri
We should have equal
opportunities for everybody, for example when you see job postings been done
and you find out that ladies are been encouraged to apply, we should also have
also a section where boys are encouraged to apply, across all jobs, regardless
of the field. Everybody is differently able but we should not take that on
account of gender. Everybody should do everything they put hands on.
Faith Magoma
To empower our boys we should
give them advice. Anything relating to girls they should be involved, so
everything should be equal and our boys should be advised on what to do; they
should be shown the way forward. We should not assume that all men are okay;
that all boys are okay.
Andrew Gachie
I would like to encourage each
and every one of us to work towards empowering, not only the Girl-Child, but
the Boy-Child as well. Ther is a big gap that need to be filled. The boy child
will be the future Father, future uncle, the future priest, the future brother.
If we do not take of that child today, tomorrow will be very dim.
Fr. Francois Dufour, Sdb
Just as a bird needs two wings to
fly, I believe that human race needs to have an equal balance between the male
and the female; part of our huma race, in order to thrive and most to be
equally well cared for and developed and educated.
Dennis Kefa
As men, we feel respected if we
get empowered just like women are empowered these days and I think we should
create equal opportunities in order to employ both boys and girls.
[Youth voices on the
background]
Nkrumah Maucho
I think about this about this boy
in this society looking foe somebody to help, guide and give them a place or a
space to be who they have been created to be. I think it is up to us fathers,
it is up to us uncles, all the mentors, to help the Boys Child to realize who
they are. Empower them with the gift, not only knowledge, but as well as the
passion to find out why they were created. To the men out there, rise up and
take the place to help the Boy Child to find out who they are so that we can
curb the femicide in our country.
Dennis Kefa
A society that disregards men is
a dangerous society. Let us be cautious and let us take action before it is too
late.
Isaac Kirigwi
For the good of the society let
is empower both equally.
[Outro Music fades out]
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