The Unrefined Youth

So they call it job hunting. That's how desperate it has become with the youth surge that is highly unemployed. How do we balance the high youth population, and the growing need to seek productive work that can not only put food on the table for one but also raise a family. The societal responsibility in an African community bears a heavier impact as a family is beyond the nuclear definition but has deep rooted tentacles within a given geographical area that defines a community. Interesting! Come to think of the many children my father took to school whom some were not even known to us. The saying that educate a woman and you educate a community resonate well to many. Some of my friends from the western world distantly admire this culture but are also reserved to embracing this due to their definition of development that limits the spreading of wings.

I see them by the road side yearning to do something constructive that will not only define their worth in the community but also that which will put their ego in a well placed scale of self and societal worth. The burning desire leads them to run away from reality by engaging in a multiples social vices. Smoking of weed is the in thing that youthful peers identify with, the drugs ranges from the mild and simple such as cigarette and the hard stuff like cocaine - who is the supplier? They fall sick and the health practitioners realise that they no longer have veins that can run an intervenous fluid. All have collapsed in the midst of trying to get high the many times they find themselves awake to reality. Myriad of questions clutter my mind

What could be ailing our youth and what's deep that is dire wanting to mitigate this unemployed population that stands as a time bomb. I spend time with them and realise that some are well educated and this melts my heart to know how this energy is being wasted as we cry of labour shortage, in country and around the world. The global boudaries are yet to be bridged. They narrate that it is frustrating to go to school yet fail to secure a job. They state that the sacrifice that families make to have one educated comes with unforeseen responsibilities and demands. They state that family assets such as land, animals and other household assets are sold to educate them to higher levels. This translates to thousand of dollars yet there are no fruits reaped post-graduation

The employer needs years of experience to have them on board. The experiences need to be gained but the question remains - from where? ‘Must we have god fathers to get a start?’ they ask. What is youth involvement that is embedded in our constitution? It cuts across almost in a similar manner in many countries. In the development field it has ceased to be just a mention but a cross cutting theme needs to be addressed. The impact is felt differently in both gender. The females tells me they rather get married to be able to deal with the unmet needs of the fruits of education. I am left to wonder whether these are marriages rooted in love. Do they justify the Gender Based Violence whose prevalence is escalating and the surging separation and divorce. They thereafter no longer consider themselves under the brackets of the youth as the general assumption is that youth are the unmarried in the society. The male suffer the extreme consequences as they are the sole providers of households. They rather be drunkards, thieves, muggers just to cope with the situation. They are no longer trusted and therefore are likely to be left out in matters of interest to the community. The male youth have further been left out in development activities as gender aspects tends to slice them out of vicinity - they tell me it is an exclusion of prejudice.

‘How do we want to re-look at this aspect with a multi-sectoral lens?’ the query tingles my ear. The bomb is ticking and I want to believe that the same concern colonizes the minds of my leaders yet no ones dare talk about it in a fact finding fashion. Someone from 'out' comes to talk about this on our behalf yet we claim that we know our problems best - so do I. Youth involvement is in question. I notice the level of job hopping, hunting coupled with desperation, engagement and my heart yerns for that mentor to direct me into the professional growth i have seen in some of the achievers who have gone into history. I am not sure of myself and my direction yet i strive to make the 'world' know that i understand myself. I am considered that icon in the community who has made it through school to higher levels. Many parents point to my direction and tell their children to emulate me. My fear is how many of the children will grow up in the same level of professional confusion as myself, no clear dircetion, no clear understanding of self, alot of sacrifice that are not worth in the long run. It is a game of lose and take I get to discover it on my own as I approach the age when life begins. It's not there as part of my studies probably I missed it but I cannot find people in my space and circles of peer who consider it otherwise. What is the unspoken path to solve this equation?