Youth are the future leaders, it is said and the Church recognizes this point and takes it as vital. Youth are given preference in the Church for their own development and growth. The youth of the Gambian church have a pivotal role to play in the life of the Catholic Church and in society at large. Certain hard times bring back youth from realizing their full potentials for the realization of their role as future leaders in society. The youth also others will blame for bad attitude towards their future lives but the youth is between the Church, parents and the society what is their role towards the youth? Christian Panorama looks through and offers some answers, read on.

The home is the first teacher comprising of the mother, father and other elders of the family in an African setting. The parents are said to be incharge of the child’s growth and early beginnings, which means they owe a lot to the molding of the child from its inception. Children according to psychologists are born with empty brains, what they term as “tablerazers,” meaning empty. The brain is empty until those brains are filled. This takes quite a painful period and parents should be more careful at this stage to enable them get the best.  From the early stage of these developmental stages in man, the neighbours too play their own role in the molding or filling of the brain to what the society would use later. In a Christian setting the parents show very good examples to their children especially through their Christian living. They are obliged to teach them to love God and teach them to pray all the time. Teaching them morals is part of molding them into what it is supposed to be. Many parishes have formulated youth activities, starting from children to the young adult. Parents are only asked to send their children to be a part of such groups. Many parents fear to send their children to such functions so as to get their children under control at home. Most children are not able to comport themselves when parents are absent. Thus bringing the fear to release their children.

The community too sits to watch the good or bad children. Mostly the onlookers that are the neighbours fear to help children fearing other parents’ reaction for instilling discipline. The community has a limited space to discipline those that do not belong to them.

Parents have the bigger say and should be flexible either with the youth, the society or the church in the development of these children. They will receive the greater bit of the successes their children will score as elders or future leaders.

Pope Benedict XV1th. recently met with world youth in Sydney Australia. He previously met with them in Germany. Gambian youths were a part of it and today many of them dream of attending such functions to enhance them.

It was with disappointment that the ticket for going to Australia could not be purchased by some youth that could not afford it. Those who could afford it were refused visa to that country. Society could have done more to ensure that these youth, anxious to meet other youth made to go. But their passports were sent and returned rejected. This made a lot of the youth loose hope and become lazy about their organizations. Many churches did not do much either to see that one or two of their church youth go for the youth function.

Gambia Catholic Youth have not relented either. The Diocesan Youth Council (DYC), responsible for youth activities of the Diocese of Banjul recently called on all youth of the Catholic Churches for a Summer Youth Camp in a secluded area called Soma. This is in line with what Christ Himself had done with His Apostles when he took time out to pray and reflect alone. The DYC under the guidance of Joseph Colley, who has been fighting tooth and nail to bring the youth together, spent four days with the youth in prayer, fasting and reflection. The Summer Camp announced all over the churches could only attract ten of the youth in the diocese. Many people said most of the youth were busy with their summer classes while others feel more should be done for them by helping to pay their camp fee.

The Youth Summer Camp held from August 27 to August 31st. and attended by ten DYC members was a success according to Pierre Mendy. He said they prayed, played and meditated a lot on their future and the past to forge ahead for a better youthful days. He said they were mostly impressed by the youth behaviour and encouraged parents to be part of their children’s growth. “We believe parents have a pivotal role to play to enable youth be more useful as future leaders,” Pierre Mendy said.

Asking one of the parents why she did not let her two children go for such a youth experience, Rose Mendy said it is a good thing for children but it was not easy to let go of my kids for such a vital exposure. “The only problem is I am not sure of what is there and the money too was expensive. It could have cost me nearly a thousand including pocket money for the two of them. Apart from that I could not be sure of girls leaving for an unknown place,” She said.

The problem here for the growth of the youth remains fear, poverty, parents and society and the slow pace of generosity in society. Parents need help to help their children and so it is to put things in place for the development of these youths who would take over from the elderly. “Let us invest on our youth and at our old age they shall improve our lives with the new trend of things we shall not be in line with but they will be vital for our existence,” says David Noah of Bakau.

Glory Baptist Nursery School recently held their graduation ceremony at the church premises. Speaking at the occasion, the school head advised parents to be more committed to their children’s welfare. Mrs. Kamanda, the head mistress of the school, said that coming together for a common purpose was fitting as children transit from lower basic school to primary level.

She said, “I must remind parents that they have to redouble their efforts to make their children come to school on time.” She said that those children that arrive at school on time will always be ahead of those who arrive late. She stated that those who are arriving late for school will find it difficult to be promoted to Grade One.

Mrs. Kamanda further said that parents now complain if their children do not excel in Grade One, forgetting that many of their children have missed a lot of time at school. She also mentioned the fact that some parents are keeping their children at home when school reopens on flimsy excuses.

Many parents confirmed to The Point that the Headmistress was correct in her assertions. They agreed that it was high time that many people began to change their attitude and approach to their children’s education. Certificates, many of them presented by parents, were given to those passing out of the primary section.

The editor of TODAY newspaper, Abdouhamid Adiamoh was on Monday 21 July charged by the police for sedition. He was arrested Thursday July 17 2008 and spends several hours for questioning. He is the third journalist’s currently standing trial in the courts of the Gambia.

In an interview with this reporter Adiamoh said he was questioned about an article he published on 15 July 2008. The police are not happy with the story showing a school going child scavenging in a dump site. He was told that the whole story was sabotage. His offices were first visited by a contingent of police indicating he did not have all the legal document required to operate a newspaper, On their surprised he was able to produce all relevant papers authorizing him to operate a newspaper, it was there after he was told that his front page story is seditiousHere is the story in question re produce; the original shows a picture of a child on the front page of the TODAY newspaper.

CHILDREN DODGE SCHOOL TO PICK SCRAP TO PICK SCRAP METAL by Pa Bajinka and Boe Saw

A good number of children between the ages of seven and nine are now believed to be staying away from school to scour around town for scrap metals which they then sell for meager amounts to scrap metal merchants.

In an interview conducted by TODAY, many school aged   children disclosed that they usually go dump site and old vehicle garage to collect metal which they sell. They claim to use the money to buy food. According to these children, the merchants buy every kilo of the mental at two or three dalasi. These children also claim to be registered in schools, but admitted that they often skip classes in order to find the time to scour and searched for scrap metal. However, conditions at the scrap metal sites are far from   child – friendly. Our reporters found reptile and rodents hiding at amidst the scrap metal junk; likely hazards for the children.

The children also search for their merchandise without any protective gear which could safe them from serious injury. They are thus exposed to cuts and bruises and a host of bacteria infection contactable fervent visits to the reuse dumps.

Some of these children even admitted to TODAY that they have not been in school for a long time and that their parents are not aware of this.

A man who wants anonymity pointed out that the people buying the scrap do so because of selfish interests and not in the interest of the children who should be in school. This will seriously affects the education of the children and its becoming a problem in almost all parts of the country, he said.

Mr. Kungkung Jobarteh, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education has called on parents and guardians to always monitor their children’s performance at school.

DPS Jobarteh made these remarks recently while delivering a keynote address at the graduation ceremony of Armitage Senior Secondary School in Jangjangbureh.

Mr. Jobarteh, who was also the guest speaker at the occasion, urged both the parents and teachers to keep in close contact and work together in the interests of children.

He dilated on the important roles played by parents in shaping the characters of their children which according to him, remains with them [the children] throughout their lives.

He further went on to advise the students to give maximum respect to their parents and teachers and not only confine their hard work to the classroom but also to do more at home.

Giving his annual report, Mr. Ebrima Joof, Principal of Armitage Senior Secondary School, said the 2007 WASSCE results have shown a remarkable improvement in the performance of the students in all subjects.

He lamented that the school being a boarding one is really finding it difficult to cope with the rising cost of food prices, which he said has seriously affected their budget.

 He revealed that every term, the school consumes 450 bags of rice but thanked to President Jammeh who donated 210 bags of rice to the school. The gesture is assisting the school.

Kaunding Tambedou, the chairman of Armitage Board of Governors, commended the Ex-students association of Armitage for their continued support to their Alma mater.

So long a letter

In the beginning was the deed, and not the word, for the word came to name the deed. The human deed takes nine months to hatch; and after the joy, the feasting, and the naming, then the parenting (proper) begins. First, the cries, and the feeding, and the changing, constantly. Waking up at un-christian hours for one reason or another, and it doesn’t matter whether we are ill or well, the cries, the cries are always talking, telling us something which we have to second guess. After a while, we become cry savvy, as we learn, however imperfectly, to put or ascribe a cause or reason to a cry. But this stage is only a short distance from, "zaks, stop doing that", "zaks, be careful, you might hurt yourself", "please, zaks I’m tired", and "Oh zaks! You have broken it" – you’ve got the picture, the life of a parent is quite, quite unavoidably difficult. But before long, all that would turn to memories, to reminisce over in calmer days. Or at least that is the hope: to reminisce in calmer days, when the brood has left the nest, confident and educated and shinning with refined rectitude, you know, a cultured upbringing.

However, "out of the crooked timber of life, nothing straight can be wrought", or, if you prefer a cliché, the road to hell can be paved with the smoothest, the most virtuous intentions. The correlation between input and outcome is devilishly murky. And that makes the parenting process slightly trickier.

I was in the delivery room on that Friday morning (02.27), nearly 11 years ago, when my freshly-clayed treasure was born, my ‘sun’, my one and only (for now). And this is what I wrote in my diary on that day: "Ah! Sylvia Plath hit the right note: they take their place among the elements with a cry; a cry as much a breadth of nature as the rustling of the wind. And as though the cry itself is a kind of wind, it sent a frisson of inexpressible, sob-pregnant, joy to my heart.

If I were a poet, I would have written a sonnet about how the midwife snatched ma baby’s first cry, in mid air, wrapped it round the severed umbilical cord and coiled the cord around my heart (but I’m not a poet, so my joy shall be my sonnet)". Every parent, I think, feels similar sentiments with the birth of a first child. It feels like a rite of passage: son becomes father and daughter becomes mother, while still retaining the status of being a son or a daughter. This gives the ego or the self a sense of extension, the sense that we have thrown in our lot into the great flow of life.

As he weeks roll into months, the cry which first gave us joy, now would not let us rest, and as the months gather into years, we face at each step different challenges to our efforts to instil discipline and a sense of initiative in them. The nappies and the baby food and the baby clothes, and the toys (you continue he list), would also have taken their punishing toll on our pockets and purses, before they turn five. So, I repeat, the life of a parent is quite, quite unavoidably difficult. But I shall insist in this essay that the life of a child is twice score more difficult than the most dedicated parent’s.

Their long-drawn – out helplessness together with "the psychological dangers of a physically intimate family life", leaves them entirely at our mercy. From the perspective of the child, the family is an "intensive care unit", and nothing short of a careful dedication by the parent would serve the child’s interest. But, just as there are good people and there are bad people, so there are good parents and there are not so good parents. And perhaps more dishearteningly: even good parents can make honest, but damaging, mistakes. To a cynic, its all in the luck of the draw, the "natural lottery".

The values we put into our children, and the methods we use to put those values in them, are, in many ways, largely determined by the prescriptions and precepts of the society we belong to. As a grown up, now, I’m struck by the disquieting pun on the wollof word "yarr": it suggests both "cane" and "upbringing".

And as a kid, then, I had my share of lashings at the hand of this pun. Maybe it’s a generational thing, because when I had my one, I decided to relieve the pun of its double-edged unease: I gave "cane" a retirement a well-deserved retirement, given that it’s been at it for centuries; "straightening" generations of kids out, and from all the hard work, it s back gave in, and it became "bent" itself. In our "culture" it’s apparently still OK to hit our children, when they misbehave. We do so, the wisdom goes, for their own benefit (spare the rod and spoil the child). And whatever we call "cultural", we often feel reluctant to critique. This view, perhaps unwittingly, assumes that the "wisdom" of my "culture" is complete and settled and timeless.

But should we stop for a moment, and look again, we might get to see that our culture or any culture, if it is to last into the deep future, may have to learn a whole lot of new things along the way. When we inherit a tradition, we do not commemorate it by tagging along behind it, and taking our orientation from the writings on its back; rather, we commemorate a tradition by giving it a new opening on to the future. Caning, or corporal punishment belongs to an expired mode of thought. It was born in a "geocentric world", and shares all the inaccuracies of that world. This is a typical father of that world: austere and remote, with a personality so immense that he has no need to be consistent, and yet never ceases to be right, for his "right is founded not in thought but in his person".

The letter in the title of this essay is a sealed one. We know only that it contains our childhood memories. And it is sealed because our childhood memories are "elicited only when childhood is already past". We get to know our sealed inheritance, as it were, when we’re all grown up. We may not know what furies or mercies are sealed in our letters, so to speak, but we know that "memory discovers personality". And since Freud, we appreciate a lot more now the significance of childhood memories in the formation of the adult character. In general, "it is no longer possible to doubt the importance precisely of the first few years, of our childhood".

Our extended family system is a wonderful network of relationships which provides rich and fulfilling family life to many. But, like any institution, it is also susceptible to abuse. With our social hierarchies and stratifications, we tend to put some on a pedestal, and others, underfoot, as though the others were doormats. If it is not the jokey insults, it is the public embarrassments or the delicate contempt, or the clench-teeth tenderness, all of which keep eating away at one’s sense of self. When a child finds herself in such circumstances, and later on opens her "letter" and be greeted by the furies, society will crown her with a blame all her own.

Our need for vigilance, as parents, has never been more urgent than it is today. The internet and satellite TV, for instance, have transformed quite radically the horizon of our kids’ world. And "ideas" have a habit of surreptitiously creeping into kids’ heads, without the parents noticing. Their emotional and psychological vulnerabilities make them easy prey to all kinds of influences. Furthermore, they are more self-scrutinising these days, and therefore more judgemental, whether of themselves or of others.

When the judgement is severe and is directed inwards, it is then all too easy for them to let the best of themselves slip away. The unfavourable opinions of grown-ups give them a bad opinion of themselves, and then they internalise the opinions to their detriment. Tradition will for a time resist the overtures of a new ethos, but we must stand our ground, faithful to the belief that, our process of social development can displace stock – responses and brings it about that people become averse to what they had previously tolerated.

Caning, and certain forms of adult treatment of children rob them of their confidence and turn them into timid adults; and other forms of treatment turn them into revengefully aggressive adult misfits. No doubt, we as parents deserve respect for all the pains we go through during the long socialisation process. But equally true, is that they also deserve our gratitude. And we show our gratitude by being gentler with them, "authority need not be authoritarian". Thinking outside the box is not necessarily a violation of the box but a mere extension of its boundaries; an enlarging of our experience. To modernise our attitudes is a sign of strength, not of weakness.