REPORT ON INTERVIEW WITH YOUTH IN KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
In this interview with the youth in the university it came out clear that the youth are not grounded well with matters pertaining their catholic faith. Some of the reasons which they gave were ignorance, relying on the instructions given during their baptism classes when they were young and the instructor mostly the catechist could not go deeper in his or her teaching about different catholic doctrines. Also they raised a concern in that most priests are not concerned with the welfare and needs of the youth because they view the young people as people who have nothing important to offer to the church and due to this they don’t involve them in making major decisions in the church.
They also raised a concern of lack of youth small Christian communities at their rural areas where they come from. That the sccs at their homes only accommodate well there parents and not the young people. Once they break for short and long vacation they find hard time joining elderly people in their sccs the simple reason being the difference in ideologies. For example the youth want different issues affecting them for example sex, relationship and career being handled in the sccs and get answers to this issues. This issues are not addressed as the youth may shy sharing really life situation because of age difference and the African tradition does not allow for discussion of some topics openly in fact it’s a taboo hence they will still remain with the same problem of many unanswered questions.
Also the young university catholic students raised another concern on lack of proper mentorship program and spiritual guidance in our catholic church. They suggested that our catholic church should introduce a system of mentorship where the youth are given specific people to nurture and mentor them as they grow.
Another issue which was raised with a lot of concern is that there is almost nobody listening to their challenges. They want a listening church which will always give them a chance to speak out, allow them make some noise and take care of their complains. The youth face quite a number of problems in life but there is no one to unburden them. They need a friendly church which will listen and empathize with them.
The economy and lifestyle has gone very high and due to this factor most of the youth are not committed in their relationships with people of the opposite sex. They are concerned with satisfying there sexual demands of the body and after getting sex they break up and move on to other relationships. At the end it becomes hard for them to have staple marriage partners. The church should address this issue and try to guide the youth since majority have made a choice to lead a single life as they family responsibilities.
Soon I will be sending more reports on behalf of small Christian communities.