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| cultual and religious leaders during training. |
The Imam shared that in every
Friday sermons and on radio he made sure he talked about taking care of children,
showing them love, prevention of drug abuse and alcoholism among children and
parents being free with them so that children are free to share their problems
with them. “Some parents are HIV
positive and find it hard telling their children who are infected at birth and
take their children to schools to remove the children from themselves.” He added. Mrs Annet Nyakoijo the parish chief
who also acts as the leader for women in Kibiito B cell talked to the women to
take care of their children. There was a case where the boy children were
beating their mother to give them land , she intervened by talking to these
boys and they started attending the parenting sessions since they are parents
too and they have stopped beating their mother. The men have also changed in
their families because of attending parenting sessions and they no longer
beating their women.
It was discussed that Men are
also facing violence but have nowhere to report to, they are also given drugs
by women hence becoming weak and hence the women become more powerful and authorative
in the home. A case in point is where a specific policeman in Kibiito always
supports women in case a case is brought up, the men end up being jailed and
this police man later takes on these women as his girlfriends. Discussions
about who a child is and the responsibilities for mothers and fathers were
discussed and experiences were shared where a pastor shared of how his son
married a wife, gave birth to only boys and this has been a cause of conflict
because they cannot take care of their children and his two grand children have
been brought to the grandfather to help them in parenting. It was discussed
that parents should ensure that 75% of the time children should spend it at
home so that they adopt good behaviors and learn their responsibilities as
children unlike when they spend most of their time in town and adopt 50%
instead of 25%.
Some of the challenges faced by these leaders while passing on this knowledge in the communities included different people turning up for the services, most people in the villages do not listen to radio, less time is given to the religious leaders during burials and most people turning up in community meetings are old hence the young parents are missing the knowledge
In conclusion, it was agreed that during the preparatory
marriage lessons at church, more emphasis should be on child upbringing as most
of the time children are left out in these sessions. Lack of care and provision
of needs by fathers in the homes has led to the children being more attached to
their mothers than their fathers and some mothers have used this to kill the
image of the fathers in homes. The importance of having family meetings in
homes was discussed where family meetings lead to direction in the family, creation of resources from combined effort,
understanding of children better by assigning them responsibilities, and
children are taught how to work well with people, teaching the children the
importance of their goals and dreams.
