Youth Development – STEPHEN ADEI

First of all for me youth signifies potentials. Second youth is so important for almost every stage of one’s life because the foundations you lie in your youth actually determines half of your life and very few people ever make amends for any lapses in their youth in terms of their education, in terms of their work ethic, in term of their partnerships, the most important of which is of cause marriage, in terms of career and many others. The third is that the youth are able to change and adapt especially and make good even lapses in some important areas of their life.

The bible says in Proverbs 22:6 “train a child in the way that he should grow so that when he grows he would not depart from it”. What the original Hebrew stand is saying is that, when they are young they can be directed, look at their short comings and strength and use it to mould them and that is lost when you are old.

For me when I was young that was about my late teens and early twenties, as a young Christian I remember my motto was 1 Timothy 4:12 “don’t let anybody despise you because you are young”. So that for me makes the youth a special passion of cause am a parent and I have four children. I must say that I have also a special concern because I believe that your family is your number one responsibility before God and man. Your best contribution to the world is to bring up your family in the fear and instruction of the Lord and give them the capacity to influence their generation.

Another thing is that unfortunately many young people have no purpose; they have no one to guide them. I find many of the young people so full of potential and there is only a little they need in other to succeed. Some of them will want to come to you for money and I say no because how many people can financially help but with a lot of advice, encouragement and direction it’s almost limitless.

In my experience in trying to interrupt with the youth I came up with the following that they would need. First of all they need purpose, direction, something worth living for and I think that many young people don’t have purpose and direction. And when a person doesn’t know why he is here and what he can do everything else falls apart because the center cannot hold to use Chenua Achebe’s words. And I believe that young people need directions, to need an anchor, to need true of an organizing principle and for me that is why am passionate about preaching the gospel to young people for in Christ they have a purpose, they know that they are here on a mission so they have a purpose and they are going towards somewhere.

The second is a sense of self wealth and dignity. And for me many of the things they cannot do are as a result of the fact that they are not there period. In the same way, people need to have their self wealth as people made in the image of God who are drastically valuable. Some people are able to make contribution only when they are secured in themselves. If you are not secured you cannot make any meaningful decisions and therefore you will always be demanding security from the other people rather than willing to offer.

Good work ethic is as easy to acquire as the bad once. People don’t know that in working hard is the opportunity for capacity building. Not only capacity to work but the capacity to manage your life, capacity to be good to your spouse, capacity to be a parent and this must be acquired in the youth.

I think that young people should not have their life wasted without really engaging them and I think as a nation we haven’t done well at all. First our education system does not prepare the youth to make contribution to themselves, their family and their country but in fact in some cases it makes them worst. But the worst part of it is that the majority are kept out of education system even 30% of them don’t finish primary school. Secondary school is still about 20% in other words 80% of our children don’t even have the opportunity to have the basic tools to engage in the modern society not alone in the university.

And I think that as a nation we have to re-think and do that very fast because unfortunately youth is not a tactic. I trust that I can use much of my energy, my twilight years just for the youth that is why I am so passionate about Ghana Christian international. It is a reason I want to set up another secondary school in my village Hwerimoasi.

And I think that there are more opportunities today for any young person who wants to take responsibility for their own education than any other time in the history of the world. I mean am amazed at what is even available on the internet and what you can learn from your peers yet unfortunately we turn to learn the negative things. I think that it is quite important that young people must know that you must have your objective and responsibility if you do that then you will see the teachers rather than other people as only tools to help you to achieve what you want to do. And I think that they in other words young people must have mentors. There are many people who are willing to help but the question is that are the young people willing to learn?

The third is character. And I believe that character formation is something that has to be done in the youth and therefore I feel passionate to help the young people in that direction and even especially try to convince the young people in doing things right. Good work ethic is as easy to acquire as the bad once. People don’t know that in working hard is the opportunity for capacity building. Not only capacity to work but the capacity to manage your life, capacity to be good to your spouse, capacity to be a parent and this must be acquired in the youth.