The other day at around midnight, I was coming home from a trip and I came across small groups of boys between the ages of 10 to 15 walking home. After every few meters I would come across another group of about 3-4 boys until I could count a total of about 20-30 boys walking home from somewhere.
I wondered where they were coming from and it was only after I decided to slow down trying to eaves drop their conversations in curiosity that I realized they were from watching football at local joints that air live matches.
I wondered what kind of parent would sleep well or relax comfortably at home while their school going son is out at that time of the hour.
Interestingly as much as many would agree girls are not fun of football, I wondered if a parent with a girl who loved to watch football would allow her go watching in those joints and at such hours. To note, none of the groups I saw had any girl.
It reminded me of an online discussion I had come across, about girls being scolded for coming home late while the boy child is free to come in and out as they went and most defended the issue as girls are more likely to be in danger than the boys.
Well, I know it’s not safe for even adults to be out at that time of the night not just girls and its irresponsible for any parent to allow this for their child regardless of the gender.
This brings me to the big debate in Kenya over the abandonment of the boy child while the girl child is being empowered and protected by all means.
As a society and especially in the rural areas we are still stuck at treating the boy child as a greater gender instead of treating them as a child. .
We had this discussion in church the other day, that at 10 years the girl is given chores at home and will have to rush back home after attending church while the boy is left with no chores so after church he goes to the local market with fellow boys to pass time and come back home after darkness falls.
This is so wrong at an era we are trying to brainstorm on the reasons the boy child is lagging behind behind yet at tender age they are made to believe they are the better gender, strong in all aspects.
At those football joints what are they learning? Are we even sure they are from watching football or something else? And on their way home what are they likely to meet on their way, or even learn and pick up? What kind of drinks will they take to refresh themselves as they watch despite watching them from football joints and not local pubs that serve alcohol?
I actually think those football joints should only allow adults, yes, those above 18 years old and especially past 6.00pm.
And the same parent will hit the roof to learn that their boy indulges in alcohol and drugs which could be too late. It is time we took the quest to empower the boy child to our homes, our villages and community before we even start lobbying for policies or partnership to lift up the boy. It starts from within us.
