We Should All Join New Archbishop Kazimba On Search For The Boy Child

By Sam Evidence Orikunda

Right from the beginning and in the book of Genesis,  the male human being was important. It’s from the rib of a man that a woman was gotten. As Christians, we also believe that God is a man but interestingly the boy child is missing in Uganda.

When I was too little and in my primary school, every Wednesday my colleague female pupils were taken to a hall by the senior woman teacher accompanied by other female teachers.

They would spend some hours there as we seated in class or play in the school compound.

I was always curious to know what exactly happened in that hall and how comes us male pupils were also not taken in our own hall.

 When I asked one of my female confidants at school, she told me that they always go there for body hygiene lessons and other advice from the senior woman teacher which she didn’t explain.

However, when I grew up I realized that even the male pupils needed that same advice and handling.

As the female students enjoy company of senior woman teacher and the nurses at school, the boy child is neglected.

Nobody is available for the male pupil or students. He will only appear in the staff room when he has committed an offence and ready for the punishment.  I doubt if schools in Uganda have the senior man teacher to always help male students in mentoring them and giving other important life lessons. When you’re a male student and you need advice, it will be up to you, to befriend a certain teacher and later approach him for advice; he won’t look for you, but for the girls if something looks weird within a shortest time she will have been helped.

This wouldn’t be bad but I think it should be done to all students.

In the homes, the father is not always available for the boy child. It’s the mother available and she puts much focus on the female children.

I think parents forget that even male children have issues that need attention for upright growth.

Even when it’s time for shopping on reporting back to school, male students are not given enough like they do to the female students.

 Some boys even leave homes without anything from their parents. The focus is on the female child.

The Non-Governmental Organizations about girl child empowerment are very many and in all parts of the country. They conduct workshops for the females and even offer financial support, give them what to use and several good things they do. Nobody can think of starting an NGO of boy child empowerment and I’ve never known why?

What is more scaring is that the male Children are dropping out of schools, to do business and small casual works to get money.

They start looking for money at an early age. At 10 years,  the boy child has already started hustling, searching for money from here and there  which they use to buy clothes  and other  basic needs for themselves since some parents don’t provide.

On most streets in towns of Uganda, when you walk at night you get emotional. Young boys at the age of 10 – 15 are carrying boxes of mineral water, Mandazi, biscuits and others to sell to passengers on the busses. When it’s late, they lay down on the verandahs of shops; take a nap as they wait for the morning or other busses to arrive.

You can never find any girl child in those groups of boys.

They’ve gotten used of the situation and they do it from Monday to Sunday without rest.

The boy child is involved in gambling, drug abuse, child labour and several other bad things.

 Even in schools the number of male students has continued to decrease. Even if you conducted a census today you would find out that the number of girls in school is bigger than that of boys.

No wonder female students have been passing highly than the male students in the national exams.

On side of the church, the big number of people who attend church services and involve in church activities are females.

Each time I am given a chance to speak in the church, I ask for the males to stand up such that I can compare but you find not even a quarter of males attending the service.

What is interesting is that most priests are males. I don’t know if they have taken time to make males get interested in church activities or if they don’t mind about it.

I read something on Facebook the other day, someone was asking, “Who is preparing the boy child to encounter with the empowered female child?”

 It was a challenging Question and people struggled to answer. You never know, it could be the reason for the failure of most marriages because the empowered women   are getting   married to men who are not empowered and the end result is conflict and disagreements on a number of issues hence divorce. 

Most empowered women are unruly and do not respect any cultural norms or restrictions, for as long as she was told against some culture she will oppose it and vehemently. If the man still believes in it, he will either give up on it or decide to separate.

I am not writing all these to say that all is well with the girl child. Obviously I understand that in the past most traditions did not consider the females as children, that’s how most of them were neglected and they suffered unspeakable challenges.

However, after the introduction of women empowerment this culture has vanished. Thank God NRM is in power. The women now have positions in the Government and are considered important in the community just like men. It has now instead, changed to another way around. Now it’s the boy child suffering unfair treatment and not given a helping hand to be a better person in future.

The Government, the Church and the NGOs, joined the flight and taught the community that the girl child is important while fighting against neglecting them. Now that they’ve succeeded,   I think they should change the topic and tell people that all children are important  and should be empowered equally. The NGOs, the Church and Government should also change their programs and include the boy child as well.

Teach young men about their rights and assist them where they need help. If we do so I am sure even God himself will be impressed and He will grant us many blessings.

The Government should put measures to stop child labour and find ways on how the boy child can be assisted or empowered just like the girl child. It’s obvious and evident that the mentality of neglecting the girl child stopped and the fruits are visible in all parts of the country and the world.

Anything against the female now gets the attention of the nation and the world but something against a male can’t even be known at the Village level. They will simply say “he is a man let him hustle for himself” this is an unfair treatment for the boy child that will make us lose him if things continue like that. 

The new Church of Uganda Archbishop Samuel Stephens Kazimba Mugalu thought it wise to speak about this unfair environment during his enthronement yesterday.

I think he is in the same paradox with me and other people concerned about the male child.  We have been so much unfair to the boy child and if we don’t wake up, we are going to lose them.

 It’s not only the church, it’s in the Government in the NGOs and in the international community. However, with his alert from the Archbishop, I am sure the Church of Uganda will foster the efforts to search for the boy child.

I hope in the near future, I will hear about NGOs specifically focusing on boy child empowerment just like we’ve those of the girls.

I hope the Church of Uganda and other religions will start programs of searching for the boy child and bringing him back to church activities and get them off child labour, drug abuse, gambling and other bad habits. I hope the Government will roll out programs meant to help the boy child.  Conclusively, I ask the community to grant same privileges they give to females, this will speed up our efforts and search for the boy child and empower him never to lose him again.

The writer is a passionate cadre of the movement and an aspiring western youth member of Parliament.