International Day of Families

Since 1994 the International Day of Families has been celebrated globally on 15 May, to highlight the importance of strengthening families as the basic building blocks of society.

Strong Families are essential for a society of equity and justice; indeed almost every social problem has its root in the malfunction of the family unit.

To tackle the current issues facing our societies such as the scourge of HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, sexual defilement and violence, gender discrimination, corruption, lawlessness, poverty to mention but a few, it is imperative to support and empower families as the first line of defense.

This day is observed to set the global agenda for the family and influence policy and resource allocation to prioritize the protection, strengthening and development of the family institution.

(Excerpt: International Day of Families, May 15th 2006 )

IDPs (Internally Displaced Parents)

Also the poem “It is time for the IDPs to return home” by Samuel Opio was a very great highlight in that participants had a lot to relate to it as far as the family institution is concerned today. It ran as follows:

Its time for the IDPs (Internally Displaced Parents) to go home

(There are parents who are living in Internally Displaced Camps called bars, extramarital affairs and consequently their families are being destroyed. They need to come home so that the reconstruction of the family can begin)

The parliament and the cabinet is the arm of the government
But the family is the foot of the nation.
When it fails to stand the nation falls.
Parents, you are the social vacuum cleaners
That can remove the dirt on our society.
Unfortunately many of our vacuum cleaners are faulty and need greasing.
We are the moral air conditioners that can adjust the temperature of
Our environment, from hotheaded kids to coolheaded children.
Unfortunately our air conditioners are not operating at full capacity.
We are the vaccine that can immunize our society
And prevent it from moral decay
Unfortunately our vaccines are contaminated.

Many homes used to be like celtel, making life better
But now they have become like Baghdad, daily explosions of
Verbal artillery detonated by marital conflicts.
We the parents have become suicide bombers, blowing
Up the future of our kids
And like Darfur, carried out a genocide and brutal massacre
Of love at home.
When the children see mummy coming back from office
They see death coming and immediately declare 3 days of mourning
With flags flying half mast why? Because she doesn’t talk but
She only barks.
And when they see daddy approaching, a black mamba is
About to strike and they take cover as he comes
Heavily armed with words of Mass destruction.
And other parents have become like Umeme
Load shedding their time for the children even up to one week &
The kids have ended up experiencing a black out of values.
The lucky ones survive if they have friends who act as generators
Providing them with the power to live right.

Love has been struck off the voters register
And has undergone abortion from the womb of our society
In the end the family ends up like three parties under one roof.
The children are in FDC i.e. Forum for Disgruntled Children
The father is in UPC Unconcerned Parent in Children’s issues
And the mother is in NRM-O Non-Responsible Mother Obviously
There is no unity but disintegration.
It used to be baby’s day out
But now everyday is daddy’s day out
He spends his evening in his new office –the bar, on night duty
Pursuing a ten point program part of which includes PLE-
Pork Liver & Engabu after which he attends a swearing in ceremony
Of swearing in a chicken leg and Beer into his belly.
Parents’ children are a photocopy of their parent’s character
You are the hydro electric power dams from which they
Can tap the power of living right
But if your dam is empty of values and the water levels are too low
What will they tap? Only darkness.

Many parents are suffering from TB i.e. Too Busy
We have auctioned our children for worldly pleasures and endless treasures
We are working for money and no longer working
For our children.
Yes the cost of living is high but the cost of loving is affordable
There is God to help you.
Each child is a goldmine and it’s the parents to mine the gold out of them
Each child is a building site but unless you pour the building
Materials of relationships, commitment and leadership on them
Don’t expect to see a mansion of hope in them.
There are parents who see their children as a form of tax
Tax on their time, tax on their comfort and tax on their freedom
And immediately send them to boarding School even in nursery
So as to evade these taxes.
Remember children are like global fund, a gift and donor fund from God
You will have to provide full accountability for use or mismanagement of them.
You shall be audited
If we can’t honor our responsibilities then we are building orphanages
Of children whose parents are physically alive but responsibility wise dead.

The home is the first classroom in which a child sits in
But unfortunately the teachers i.e. the parents have absconded from duty and
If you asked them they will tell you
To them the TV is their daddy, they see him everyday
The radio is their mummy she talks to them whenever they want him to
And the newspaper is their ssenga –all the dirty things
They have learnt she taught it to them.
Our children have boarded the wrong taxis and are on
The northern bypass to destruction

You are their FM i.e. Father & Mother and if every time they try to tune in
They find you off air they will tune to another FM.
Money is one dimensional it can only satisfy the body
But relationships are three dimensional they satisfy
The body, heart and mind –give it to them.
Visit them even at campus, them maybe many years old but them
Are also many years young?
Physically they maybe in university but mentally in kindergarten
With their minds still wrapped up in nappies.
And don’t just be the head of the home but head the home.
Remember, building a high walled electric fence around them
Will not protect them from harm
Instead build a high walled electric fence
Of concrete values around their hearts
So that even when they are out of your site they will be safe
Forget not PARENT means P-Personal friend A-Available R-Responsible N-Nurtures T-Teaches

It’s time for the IDPs (Internally Displaced Parents) to return home
So that the reconstruction of the family can begin.

Opio Samuel

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