Teach children all round survival

Every other day, challenges in life emerge begging solutions of diverse nature. These challenges, at times, do not discriminate. You will be affected irrespective of your background. Jonathan Okiru, a counsellor at Family Life Network stresses the fact that often, “it can be really difficult for children from affluent backgrounds to cope up with hard life. It can be very disastrous.”

He is quick to add that the problem cuts across the board. Even children from financially handicapped backgrounds face challenges adapting to “life of plenty.”
This is why, Okiru, urges parents to teach our children to survive in different circumstances.

For Martin Ekemu’s family, teaching a child all round life survival starts as early as school time. The father of four has a home policy where all his children study in different school settings such that they are acquainted with different environments.
“If I send one to an international school for primary, then their secondary must be in a UNEB school where they can eat posho and beans, see others get sent home for fees and generally interact with the less privileged,” he says.

He also sends them to the village every Christmas holiday. “I am sure while there, they will sleep in the huts, fetch water in the community borehole and ride bicycles with the village children,” he says, adding, “then they can come back and resume their life of being driven in air- conditioned cars and merry making.”

The long-serving senior police officer believes, “I can die anytime and things can change, the reality is that life may not be the same forever. I want all round children who appreciate the world and other people’s predicaments.”

He argues that perhaps, confining children to a particular socio- economic environment is the reason we have very many insensitive leaders, who can hardly connect with the troubles of the common man. Possibly, this is the same reason we have had cases of public servants from very poor backgrounds stealing huge chunks of money under their control and abusing the privileges that come with high office.

For Ekemu, this has broadened his children’s outlook to life, “they now see opportunities in the village and one of them has invested his savings in commercial farming.”
He is sure this will help them even in their career lives, especially considering the fact that each job comes with its own challenges.