Rites of passage is an intricate,
all-embracing process; and was intended to prepare youth for
adulthood. This neglected, yet all-important chain in leadership training
has become obsolete in many communities! It demands the combined,
constructive input from a variety of stakeholders to predetermine the
final outcome that is – man, woman, husband, wife, father, mother,
leader and responsible citizen!
Founder and President of Emerging Leaders Institute Rev. Henry PC Meyer said:
"I am committed to revive, reinvent, adapt and reintroduce this
all-important chain in leadership training. This is our modus operandi for
implementation:
Create an awareness of this obsolete, yet
important observance;
Engage with credible and respected community
leaders and educationists;
Workshop the concept with youth, parents,
community and spiritual leaders and educators;
Empower parents to become the first link in
this vital chain of leadership training;
Observe Rites Of Passage celebrations for boys
and girls who turn thirteen years of age;
Surround them with credible mentors.
The nucleus family according to Western standards
or the extended family consistent with African customs, all play an important
role in this important process. Educationists, religious
figureheads, and the mass media add to this vital process. In most African
cultures, the Rites Of Passage is an all-important link in this
progression. It is not so much the graduation ceremony - from childhood to
adulthood– that is important. The quality of influences will ultimately
determine whether it was positive or negative!
In the Western Cape, the influence of colonialism, spanning over 350 years,
disconnected the descendants of the Khoisan – the first peoples in South Africa
– from their traditional practices; among others the Rites Of Passage!
Interbred and intermarried with other nations and classified as Coloureds,
these descendants are completely detached from the practices of their
ancestors!
The imposition of colonization, and the enforcement
of apartheid, disintegrated the family structure and stripped individuals of
their identity! It created an artificial void and eroded the concept of
nucleus and extended families. Furthermore, it provided the distasteful recipe
for disjointed communities, dysfunctional families, and an integrated youth
cut-off from their roots! Forced removals - responsible for dumping communities
from different areas in one resettled area - compounded the problem and
provided the ideal breeding ground for the establishment of the infamous gangster
culture.
An added dimension to this transition is the following: In most Western
countries, the traditional Rites Of Passage is neither observed nor officially
practiced. A case in point is the African-Americans who – through enforced
slavery – were extricated from their land of birth, and severed from their
lineages and traditional practices! Their lack of observance caused by
disorientation, alienation, westernization, and urbanization created an
artificial vacuum.
This void paved the way for unsettled and disconnected communities,
dysfunctional families, and disillusioned youth detached from their
ancestry! Many of them – in a desperate search for identity - were sucked into
the notorious gangster culture. The African-American male, though in the
minority, makes up the majority prison population. No wonder, they are
being referred to as the endangered species’!
Bishop B.Courtney Mc Bath: “Kids, today, the reason they’re falling into
this whole gangster image is because they don’t recognize who they are or where
they come from. In addition, they have bought into a lie. And somehow, we
have to be able to address the lie, remove the deception and lift up a
different vision, a different portrait of what young black men and young women
can actually be.” Quote from Return to Glory – the stirrings of the Black
man. This unofficial Rites Of Passage inducts many youngsters into adulthood!
