Do Something

I believe strongly that there is nobody born to play, in this world-stage, such roles as murderer or prostitute or armed robber or suicide bomber. Situations, people and more often than not the people themselves by their choices make them(selves) into these kinds of people society abhors. 

To think that the perpetrators of these inhuman vices - boko haram, al shabab or angry unempoyed South Africans - were once little boys and girls, fills my heart with immerse  sadness.

I have found myself asking such rhetorics as ,was there no exemplary adult they could have fashioned their lives after? If their parents were irresponsible or died somehow, was there no elder sibling, or extended family, especially as Ghana is largely an extended family system? What about a  next door neighbour that could offer them some guidance, counseling or discipline? 

Take a look around. Your little brother or sister has the potential of becoming a murderer or a high class prostitute, and that little boy in your area you see all the time at odd hours, playing in the sand while his peers are in school has that potential to become the armed robber who might shoot you and widow your pregnant wife unless you say or do something NOW. If you want a better world for your children, be concerned about today's children. Whenever I hear of a horrible incident caused by some man, I ask myself,  how? How did this perpetrator get to this point of being inhuman? What did the world do to him/her? When I see young girls saying in videos,  "Legon boys, y3 b3 di mu" (Legon boys, we are coming to chop you) I am filled with fear and pity like I'm watching a tragedy. I'm afraid that my younger sisters could be any of them unless I am concerned about their upbringing. 

Today, these children are seedlings. Tomorrow they can be mighty trees with fruits that will satisfy the hunger of many and  shelter many more, if they are given the right guidance and support. But If we don't contribute to their upbringing they will be fruitless leafless trees just taking up space. Would you do what you can with the little you have?

And it starts with CONCERN. Show some concern and then take ACTION. That is why I love the Initiative by Love's Closet Foundation to organise a leadership school for children called "Greatness in Me". Visit their website, http://lovesclosetfoundation.org for more information on the other yearly activities they organise and to know how to support their initiative. Other people and institutions elsewhere are also doing what they can to ensure the Ghanaian child has a better tomorrow and I salute them all. 

Now, you also can do something!

#Jesuslovesthemurderertoo.

©Amu Mawutoh.

First published: April 2015 on Facebook/Amu Mawutoh. 

Revised: September, 2018.

Picture Credit : Nyamekye photography (At the maiden edition of Greatness in Me leadership school)