Men must sit down and Talk
Over 100 Members of Mukuyuni Development Forum, who are mainly men have declared that "Men Must Rise up and provide leadership" for any community to achieve meaningful social and economic development.
The forum,the first in 2024, observed that the male gender is often absent in social, economic and spiritual matters.
It was noted that men rarely meet in social groups, church, barazas or school meetings like their female counterparts do.
The forum concluded that the absence of the male gender is of negative consequence to community development as well as mental health.
The forum agreed to do away with Akamba culture that demands that the boy child be "hardened" and to deal with his challenges internally and privately without sharing with anyone. This was noted to be the main reason why suicide cases are rising among the male gender.
On their part, women are allowed to be soft and often meet in forums where they share their personal challenges and this particularly helps them to deal with their mental challenges.
Speakers highlighted the worrying trend where men are absent in school meetings where their input is required to formulate effective school policies and thus improve academic performance in schools.
The forum chair the Reverend Jackson Kainde who is also Africa Inland Church (AIC) Machakos Area Administrative Secretary, quoting Ephesians 4:13, encouraged forum members to be kind and compassionate with one another. Further, citing Acts 20:35, he emphasized the need for members to continue reaching out to the less fortunate as they did when they contributed Christmas Gifts to 20 vulnerable families.
The forum declared that Men must attend every forum." To this end, members vowed to be attending public meetings.
The Forum carried out community need assessments and tasked its leadership to come up with short-term and long-term work plan to address the identified challenges.
The Forum is focused on community development through persuing three pillars- Capacity Building, Infrastructure, and Resource Mobilization.
