Dorcas Gachagua’s boy child program gets boost from religious leaders
What you need to know:
- A group of women including evangelists, spouses of religious leaders and women MPs have pledged to support Ms Gachagua's program to empower the boy child.
- The Second Lady appealed to religious institutions to embrace the boy child empowerment program.
- Ms Gachagua announced plans to introduce nationwide empowerment programs for the boy child in November last year.
Kenya’s Second Lady Dorcas Gachagua’s boy child empowerment campaign has received a boost after female religious and political leaders in the country vowed to rally behind it.
A group of women who include evangelists, spouses of prominent religious leaders and women MPs have pledged to support the program to rehabilitate and empower the boy child.
Speaking when she met the women leaders in her Karen office last week, Ms Gachagua said the cure for economic and social insecurity in Kenya ultimately lay with the empowerment of boys and men.
The Second Lady said that following her visits to towns and villages across the country, she realised there is something wrong with the boy child that needs immediate attention.
“We must pull the boy child away from drugs and substance abuse, suicide and depression. If we empower him, we will secure the lives of both the boy and girl, and promote strong families," she said.
She appealed to religious institutions to embrace the boy child empowerment program.
“We want to have a rehab centre where the clergy will give them spiritual nourishment, as well as involve the line ministries and government agencies like the National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse to ensure we bring out a whole child and a whole man," she said.
In November last year, Ms Gachagua announced plans to introduce nationwide empowerment programs for the boy child.
The program, she said, would include support for the boy child without professional training to undertake Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses, to enable them have access to employment opportunities or self-employment.
The initiative will, in addition, support young men to actualize their talents in sports and other creative fields like arts, through training and linking them to opportunities.
It will be undertaken under the vision for the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President, which seeks to give a dignified future for vulnerable populations’ including the boy child, widows, orphans, and persons with disabilities.
Destructive habits
Kiambu Woman Representative Anne Wamuratha, a boy child empowerment champion, urged the women to participate actively in rescuing the boy child from destructive habits.
“Enough is enough! We have buried enough young men as a result of alcohol, drug, and other substance abuse. We are losing a generation and it is time for mothers to rise up, and get ready to fight for the boy child," said Ms Wamuratha.
Nancy Oginde of Christ is the Answer Ministries (Citam) termed the challenges currently facing the boy child as a pandemic.
"What we have in our hands is a pandemic in this country, where drugs have filled the lives of our children. The boy child is the seed carrier, and women will be answerable when we lose a generation. Let us rally behind this cause," said Ms Oginde.
Dr Esther Obasike of the Redeemed Christian Church, said the vision for the OSDP was transgenerational and would leave a legacy behind, transformative for the country.
Rev Kathy Kiuna Jubilee Christian Church called on women to support the vision of empowering the boy child.
Other religious leaders at the meeting included Bishop Josephine Gitonga, Reverends Betty Mulandi, Lucy Muiru, Dona Kilioba, Amanda Kyula, Frida Buria, Nancy Mwambili, Sophia Mbevi, Alice Kamau, Judy Mbugua and Sophie Mankura, among others.
