Talking Point: My Reaction to High School Unrest and Students Burning Down Schools in Kenya

Image of Itierio Boys High School dormitories after students burnt them down over missing out on a EURO 2016 match. Source: Daily Nation.

So High School students have gone on a rampage all over Kenya burning down schools like they were piles of dustbin paper, and everyone is answering back with so much the same fire: "You students are stupid! You are childish! You are evil! You should be jailed and denied food!!" etc etc. And I'm just sitting here wondering, "Haiya! What, exactly, are we doing!?"

As a youth leader, I am amazed at how little we know of how young people today really think and operate (which is the age bracket where High School students belong anyway.)

Everyone seems to be shouting at these High School students, condemning them and giving them "lots of advice" and threats for burning down their schools. That is good (according to us), but it is irrelevant to them. It won't help a thing. This is because they don't care to listen to our advice: it is ours and they are just not into taking our advice. They won't listen. No, not for the time being.

"So, what should be done?", you ask.

Okay, what I share below is not a conclusive solution, it is not even a solution but an eye-opener, and it is also a good place to begin when trying to find the solution to this problem. It is some sort of backdoor solution for anyone who would care to read.

I'd recommend this as a start: on friendly terms, just grab the hand/s of one or two outspoken young people from an affected school, and genuinely (without making them feel that you want to "advise them" because at this stage, they just hate advice!) ask them exactly what went wrong. Be specific by asking them what they think is wrong with their school, their parents, their fellow students and with the school administration. Insist that you want them to be open about everything and that their answers will not be used against them when push comes to shove.

Be sure that you'll pick out a few things. Some will be relevant while others will be useless. Then tell them that you'll think about it and call them to discussion some time later.

Note: You cannot solve student issues without involving students. That's like solving Christian persecution without involving Christians; and especially the affected ones. So involve students (especially the ones ranting the most) when trying to solve issues surrounding and involving them.

But keep this in mind;

1. Because you listened and seemed to care, they may choose a different way of retaliation the next time they think of doing it. But be sure that they'll still do it somehow. That's how evil works. Be ready for it because the only language this generation seems to understand is: "I want it now! If you are not going to give it to me RIGHT NOW, I am going to kill someone or kill myself!! So give it to me RIGHT NOW" Get that very clear from me.

2. Students are burning down schools because that is what our generation does to solve matters: we are not good at resolving matters through dialogue but via streets. We've taught them street language and that's exactly what they're reciprocating. They're simply giving back to society what it has taught them.

3. Students are tired of being commanded around. They want to be listened to and they want to be heard; if you are not going to give it to them, you'll pay for your "ignorance". So if you're not going to give them a chance to talk and be heard, they make you "pay for it" through arson, violence or bad behavior. (Sometimes girls get pregnant or run away from home "just to 'punish'" their strict parents. It is madness, right? Unthinkable, yes? Yes, but that is how this generation works.)

4. Students are tired of being treated as kids. Yes, they are kids. But they'll revolt anytime someone tries to call them kids or treats them in a manner implying that they are kids. They want to be involved in decision-making. They want to be part of the deal without being sidelined in any way. I know parents and teachers would strongly disagree with this but that is what it is with this generation. I've seen it all the time: the moment I start treating 12-year-olds as I would treat my age-mates is the moment they start listening to me. Yeah, I have tried it out and it has worked. Just as it is with what we are seeing in our political arena, if parents and teachers won't embrace dialogue with students - no matter how childish they think it is - it is very likely that schools will keep burning. Mark my words.

5. Young people are inclined to think as a team. Always. And these teams don't die as fast as people may think. Those who know the truth of this point misuse this strength in youth by inciting them to engage in violence. However, having said that, some people still think that because students are young, they are not able to articulate an idea as a team and die for it. They are wrong. All revolutions have depended on youthful people to survive. History proves this to be very true.

Okay, as you consider this point, you may be falsely inspired to say, "So if we grab and punish their violent leaders we'll have solved the problem!!??" No, you won't. You can't kill a movement by detaining its leaders. In fact, that's how you fuel it. (That is why it has been hard to kill Christianity by the way. Christianity thrives on the blood of martyrs - Jesus being the first martyr.) It is because the moment you catch the responsible catalyst, another catalyst will be born to counter what you did to the former. And the movement will become stronger, more determined and more violent than the previous one. (Come on people, we should at least school ourselves a bit more on revolutions and how they work. Revolutions only die when you kill the idea or dogma running them, not the people behind them.)
So, get the idea that inspires them first, then you'll kill the movement and the acts thereof. 

At this stage, you may need to ask the students a very direct question: "WHY, REALLY, ARE YOU BURNING YOUR SCHOOL!!??" and use their answers to understand how and why they behave this way. This will then be the template upon which you lay the foundation for your solution-finding.

6. Don't get into the conversation to tell them what is wrong (come on, they've burnt schools and they already know that they've done it) and why it is wrong (why burning their schools is wrong.) They already know those facts, and they don't care. Let me say it again: this generation knows all the bad things. We have been really good at pointing them out, anyway (the bad things). What they don't know is WHY they are wrong and why their opinions are irrelevant as far as such bad things are concerned.

Here is a perfect example: young saved people know that sex before marriage is not good. They KNOW that it is sin. God forbids it but they're still having it anyway. Why? It's not a big deal to them. They don't care about your opinion or God's opinion, they only care about their own. That's our generation, man.

Our biggest challenge therefore is not to tell them what is wrong but why their opinion is not relevant for the time being and why our opinion matters i.e. why burning a school because of a lapse in entertainment (or whatever petty reason there is) is wrong and why it is also wrong to think that burning it will solve a thing. See?

7. Evil is taking course and it has it's teeth engraved in relativism.
Note: Relativism is the belief that different things are true, right, etc., for different people or at different times i.e. probably most High School students in Kenya feel that burning their schools is right so long as their prospected end result is achieved.
These High School students' actions are just a proof of the fallen evil world we live in today. Evil has taught the minds in this generation that violence is sweeter when done as a team.
Anyways, they are not the only ones. We all do it. We skip church to "punish" the pastor or our church leaders. We refuse to pay chama dues to "punish" a certain member of the chama. We do shoddy work to "punish" out bosses. Married people and guys in relationships do funny things to each other in order to "punish" their partners. We are all evil. Very evil. And we all seem to love evil.

When students burn schools, they are just expressing their evil nature and the reality of an evil world - a fallen world for which Christ died. Part of the solution may be to guide these kids in a manner that they'll embrace good Christian values which have no arson or violence in them.

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You now realize that at the center of everything I am saying above is dialogue and genuinely seeking to understand the problem before trying to solve it. Parents and teachers need to understand that right from 2010, things changed. Completely. The kind of pupils and students we now have suffer the highest level of moral degradation. They operate only by one law: this is my life, take it or leave it; whatever you think of me, I don't really care!

It is from that aspect of relativism that we have had phrases like: "my dress, my choice", "my life, my opinions", "my this, my that". No one wants to listen to advise anymore.

That's the world we live in today.
What are you doing to change it as far as young people are concerned?

PS: 
Here is the mystery about this generation: we want to be heard more than we are willing to listen to anyone.


Bonface Morris. 

Relationships: Why The Fuss Over Yokes?

A few months ago, somewhere in 2014, we had a heated debate at our Youth Bible Study class. It was escalated by that famous verse in 2 Corinthians 6:14 (Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? (NKJV)).

We zoomed in and zoomed out of the verse. (Quite typical of a Bible study actually.) And as expected, there were those who gladly agreed with it, those who said nothing about it (yeah, expect that in a Bible study) and yet still, there were those who demanded to know why it was such a big deal - this thing of getting unequally yoked with non-believers. 

Well, it came out to be a big deal. For various reasons. (But we'll eventually come to that later in this post.)

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I'm not married. Not yet actually. But I guess that doesn't really matter. At least I know, at the back of my mind, that whatever I'll be talking about in this post applies to me more than to anybody else. So I stand to be judged by the very words I say. 

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The first time I heard about a Christian young person not getting unequally yoked with non-believers, I raised my eyebrows. I was young in salvation (okay, I was young at age too). I was young and naive and was still pleased with enjoying middle ground when it came to most matters of the Christian faith that demand complete abstinence or total obedience and surrender. 

I was sceptical on matters to do with sex before marriage, sexual purity, Christian dating, relationships, the boundaries, do's & don't's within and all the "petty laws" involved. And because no one offered to deliberately answer the "why" questions surrounding these matters, I floated for a while in my own tiny knowledge of things. (But not until the Lord compelled me to read Scripture and find answers for myself.)

And this leads me to say this: the greatest challenge affecting the adoption of Christian values from one generation to another today or at any other time in future history is this: our parents, mentors and teachers have an unequalled ability to command us on what good things to do (or not to do) but they fail at never telling us why it is right or wrong to do these things. Our parents and teachers are really good at pointing out what is wrong but they are very poor at explaining why it is wrong. 

If something is bad, it is simply bad. No reason. No elaboration. No deliberation. It's just bad. Period. Don't question nothing, don't ask nothing. It is the law, just follow it. You know. 

The attitude above is what nurtures our sceptism. We young people are then inclined to ask questions like: Why abstain from sex before marriage? Why follow and believe in the God of my parents? Why not marry a secular person or a Muslim, or a Hindu or just any other person I meet next and fall in love with? 

So unless someone stops and conclusively answers these questions, we won't stop doing wrong and going against the good values we've been taught. 

For this reason, this blog was born. (Yeah, this is for all those who wonder why I blog.) 

I'll try to help us understand the why of not getting unequally yoked with a non-believer if (and when) you are a saved young person. 

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To get to the point, we'll first seek to answer two questions: 

1. Why is it a big deal to God as to whom we get married to as His children? 

2. Why do we take it for granted then? 

Answering the two questions above will give us a closer look at both sides of this coin of intermarriage between believers and non-believers. 

Then at the end, I'll share with us a few Scriptures that support my point. 

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1. Why is it a big deal to God as to whom we get married to as His children? 

(a) When we get unequally yoked to non-believers, we compromise our belief systems. 

It may not be true that I'm "compatible" with every other Christian lady, but at least we will have the same value and belief system if we are to enter into marriage. If I get married to a Muslim or someone who doesn't believe the same things about Christ as I do, it will later influence our family's belief system causing our children to believe different things about God and life. It therefore will affect the unity and agreeableness of we as husband and wife and also of the children that are a fruit of our marriage. The children may decide to follow dad's or mom's value system causing them to grow apart. Also, our unity will be compromised as far as decision making and conflict resolution is concerned. We will always be reading from different scripts. 

And because God sees all these things before we do, He discourages to get into longtime commitments with non-believers (marriage being one of them.) 

(b) Because God sees marriage and most alliances we make in life as a union that makes two people ONE, He desires that the people who get in such commitments will mutually agree to make Him the first priority in their lives, and that they'll agree to allow Him to lead them and take the center place in it. 

(c) God also predicts danger on the part of the believer when we get entangled in such relationships, agreements or contracts. Just as Isaac refused Jacob to take a Canaanite woman in Genesis 28:1 for the reason of being misled by them into pagan worship and also falling a victim of inheriting Canaan's curse through marriage (one proclaimed by Noah in Genesis 9:25), so God also doesn't want us to inherit together with the non-believer the curses and punishment that befalls them when they disobey Him. 

2. Why do we take it for granted? 

(a) We think that it has no moral or spiritual connections with who we should be or who we are in Christ. In some verses I'll quote below, you'll realize that there are so many times Israel becomes a victim of punishment due to the sin of marrying foreign wives and making treaties with pagan kings. It made God angry and separated them from Him. It does the same to us no matter how for granted we take the spirituality of the person we commit ourselves to. It will eventually become our thorn in the flesh. 

(b) We cannot see the future as God sees it. 

I've mentioned above a few examples of what the Lord sees in every illicit relationship. We are mostly blind to such truths.

(c) We look at things with immature eyes - considering only what we say about the person in picture but not what God says. We are overwhelmed by emotion and the other person's acts of love and affection which make us forget the things God says concerning such alliances. We only look at the face value of things: looks, words, false perceptions etc. 

(d) We think we are wiser and that we can change this other person and convince them to love and serve God. This is impossible but we, in our ignorance, decide that we are gods that can bring transformation into another person's life. We forget that only God can wholly change a person. 

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But some would say, "But Morris, Hosea the prophet was unequally yoked to Gomer... and... and... that lady Ruth was a foreigner, right? And what about Queen Esther? Didn't she get married to a pagan king?"

Oh well, each of the above cases are Biblical evidences of unique examples when God allows something to happen for one or two divine purposes. That is not to mean that He exclusively stamped this as the way He Himself would want His children to relate with pagans or non-believers; but that for one reason or another, a lesson was being taught to the nation of Israel. 

Here is their uniqueness:-

Hosea got married to Gomer (a prostitute) as a way of obeying God's command and to use it as a metaphor to reveal to the people of Israel how they were treating Him (their God). (Hosea 1:2 (NKJV): When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.")

The main thing to note about Ruth from the Book of Ruth is that by the time she marries Boaz, she has already accepted to follow the God of Naomi and Boaz (the God of Israel) thus is converted. (Ruth 1:16 "But Ruth said: 'Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.'") There is therefore no debating on which side she is when she gets married. 

Queen Esther on the other hand was raised in the land of Persia at an appointed time in order to save the Jews from annihilation. We therefore see that it's part of God's plan to have her get married to a pagan king. Esther 4:14 (NKJV): "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Unless you are Hosea, Queen Esther or Ruth, why tempt God by marrying a pagan? 

Only husbands or wives who became saved AFTER MARRIAGE are allowed to continue in such relationships for the sake of unity and fulfilling the will of God in those marriages. (1 Peter 3:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 7:12-16). Thus divorce is denied in instances where a husband or wife who previously didn't know Christ gets saved while their partner remains a non-believer. It is encouraged that they conduct themselves in a manner worthy their calling in order to (somehow) convict their partner into repentance. (Although it is also never a guarantee that this will happen.) 

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Finally, here are contextual Bible verses supporting “Do not be unequally yoked with non-believers" All Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible.

1. 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2. Abraham and Hagar (a foreign woman who ends up becoming the mother to "the other child" - a child who later becomes a great opposition to the promised child's inheritance) Genesis 16:1 and Genesis 21:8-10

3. Esau and his foreign women that displeased his father. (Genesis 26:34-35)

4. Ahab and Jezebel (daughter of a pagan king) who led to his fall and the enmity between his house and God (1 Kings 16:30-33)

5. The prophet Balaam led the people of Israel to sin and intermarry with Moabites (descendants from a cursed seed (Lot)) in Numbers 25:1-3. 

6. It was mandatory that Christians of the early church had a believing wife; 1 Corithians 9:5 "Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?" 

7. Amos 3:3 

"Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?”

8. Samson had a habit of falling in love with foreign women who later led to his fall (Judges 14:3)

9. Abraham made his servant swear to him that he will not allow Isaac to marry a foreign woman (Genesis 24:37)

10. Jehoshaphat, a righetous king, made a treaty with evil kings who led to his failure in war; 2 Chronicles 18:1 and 2 Chronicles 19:2.

11. Marrying many foreign women led to the fall of that wise king called Solomon; 1 Kings 11:1-2.

12. The LORD, through Moses, commanded his people not to intermarry with foreign nations; Deuteronomy 7:3 "You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons"

13. After their return to Jerusalem, the people realize the cause of their eviction into slavery in Babylon and the LORD’s incessant anger towards them was due to intermarriage with foreign/pagan women (Ezra 9:1-2)

14. After returning to Jerusalem from Babylon, the people swore not to intemarry with foreign nations because they had been told the consequences (Nehemiah 10:28-30 and Nehemiah 13:23-27);

15. Rebecca to her son Jacob (Genesis 27:46) and Isaac to Jacob too (Genesis 28:1).

16. Joshua warns Israel of intermarrying with foreign/pagan nations (Joshua 23:12-13)

We can go on and on quoting relevant Scripture, but you now get the point: it is a big deal breaker before God when we get entangled in contracts with and get married to non-believers. 

Note: The phrase “foreign woman” or “Canaanite woman” or “foreign nations” in the passages above is used to mean a people who are not born again and do not therefore belong to the family of God, and not necessarily a tribe or country (this is with relevance to Christianity) today. Also, the above Scriptures apply to every lady in the family of God. 

Til next time, 

Bonface Morris. 

Generation XYZi

I always sit down to wonder at how life was when my dad was my age. Not that I really desire or want to go back there into the realms of time and unearth myself as a 'Morris being' in a classic 50s age, with an odd old school profile and that kind-of old stuff, but because wondering is just right, ama? iWonder because I love thinking. Sometimes you just have to think beyond the normal for life to sound a lil bit more interesting than it was in the morning… or yesterday…

I always wonder how they (akina my dad) used to do their swagga thing or how they used to roam the streets in utter youthfulness with eyes on their “goals” and minds on their “talls”; with a mission on their “toes”, and pride to kill their flaws… I always wonder how they used to walk around, talk around and swear around (hakukuwa na words kama “nkt”, ama “damn”, ama “Geez!” or the *f* word…) iWonder if their walk was bouncy or ouncy. I don’t know. That is one thing I really need to ask that old man next time I meet him coz, yeah, I really need to know… I need to know if they lied to their parents, if they ever sneaked out just to go and have a stolen kiss (Geez!)… I need to know if they ever were teenagers or they just grew up being old, (hehehe), and if they ever were rebels or veeeeeery, veeeeeery obedient kids. Kama atanienjoy nitajua tu… But nimegundua I need to know so many things about how they used to run life. Things that may prove to me why their generation (generation “X”) was (and still is) so different from ours....

OK. Let’s look at some other comparatives… I always wonder if there was lipstick or mascara or iP (don’t mind how I spell it) or pencils, or supras or tights or sagging or 3 kwenjes… or stillettos, or gladiators just swagga, you know. iWonder how they used to do their hair – wachana na hizo picha wao hutuonyesha, nataka vitu solid and real… iWonder kama kulikuwa na Mohawkers hizo siku zao… iWonder kama walivaaga some revealing tops kama zetu ama I don’t know what… iWonder if they ever were lazy or forgetful, or slow or bad at school or ‘badly influenced by their friends and peers’. iWonder if they ever sinned or got pregnant before marriage… mavitu kama hizo, unacheky?! iWonder if there came times when they felt wamejamia mapaaro wao juu ya storo moja ama nyingine… Of course there were no phones (so no Facebook or Twirra or baba Gooooogle). *Sigh.* Bless the Lord there were no computers no TV, no radios, *sigh again*… iWonder if their parents used to get mad at them (maybe around 19-fifty-something), *oh my*… What was their definition of swagga, anyway? What made life so gorgeous and interesting in those clumsy times? What was reaaaaallly that interesting-in-thing hizo siku? iWonder. I just wonder. Did they have surprises? OK, wacha tusiende huko…

Sasa wacha tuendelee na hii storo… When I was younger and rowdy, I used to overhear my old chap talk about life in his time and age (that is when he was exactly the age I was then) to be flowery and angelic - that somehow inspires me to write another post which I may call “Flowers and Angels”, hehe… - he really got into my nerves! And it sometimes caused me to want to say back at him, "Heey, mzee, si uende uishi kwa hizo siku zenyu poa poa zenye hazikuwa na taabu na matatizo, eeeiiiish!" But I neither had the grace nor the guts; point being, you can’t talk to your old man like that. You can’t do that if you still need a roof on your head and free food and some chum in your torn pockets… So you swallow his noise, pretend it is ‘really cool’, praise him a lil bit, bring him water to drink, ask him if he needs his legs washed, warm some water for him, (and even) offer to wash them as he rants, and move on… but always with a wounded ego… with a judgmental atmosphere hanging all around you two for the rest of that evening, or morning, or whatever…

You see, guys of my dad’s generation make our times seem reeeeaaaally diabolic, really demonic. They always paint this age (generation “Y”) as reaaally satanic and reaaally out of place. But I don’t think we are all that. I don’t think so. I don’t think these generation “X” people have much to offer in the name of righteousness. I don’t think so.  I don’t think they can hail the ‘holier than thou’ tagline and win. This to me ain’t no win-win situation. It is a two way thing. We have differences which we should learn to embrace. We are good at one thing they ain’t. They are good at some things we ain’t. That is the point. We are both good but at different things. Yeah. We love doing things one way (because this is 2012, ladies and gentlemen) while they loved doing things another way (because that was the 20^th Century, o good people). We-are-di-ffer-re-nt! Eiiish! We can’t run our game like they used to. They can’t run their game like they used to either. Eiiish! Times have changed. We can’t run the game the same way. Oh my good Lord, I need more Grace…

Fact has it that two generations are always at conflict and miles apart in terms of value systems, conflict resolution, vision building, thought perception, spiritual upbringing and general likes and dislikes in life. Like it or not that’s just the way it is. But mystery of mysteries is that when a third generation comes in, the first one becomes laid back, as the second generation takes over to blame or criticize the next generation. And the cycle goes on and on… So these are some of the things we can stumble on and learn to live with or conquer;

No. 1 - They are old. We are young. Old is old. Young is young. Young may love some few aspects of old, but it is still young, and vice versa – that’s where the game should always begin whether in natural aspects or in spiritual matters…

No. 2 - They were young, and now they are old. We are young, and we-are-still-young! Hehe! This question of “What happened to the good old days?”, that they love asking daily should stop. Even the Bible in Ecclesiastes 7:10 (NIV) says “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’

For it is not wise to ask such questions...” Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it-is-not-wise-to-ask-such-questions! Really. *While making sign of the cross – Amen!* And reality has it that we soon will be asking the same question to the next generation (which I choose to call “Z”). I guess it will be more weird than we are today – I think we’ll kick those kids really hard too shape them in the ways of the Lord… hehe… Let’s go on…

No. 3 – A lot has changed. Technology has changed. The dressing code has changed. Speech has changed. Linguistic orientations have changed. People have changed. Smiles have changed. Desires have changed. Motivators have changed. Love has somehow changed. Value systems have changed. They may have changed for the good or for the worse, but they have changed anyway. Parenting has changed - so has “kidding”. We should just embrace today as it is, and learn to deal with it just as it is. No blame games. No ‘good old day’ tags. No ‘watoto wa siku hizi’ tags. Things have changed bwana – no need to say too much on this, buddies...

No. 4 – Let me make this one my last one on this one. Guys, guys, guys, stomp! We disagree a lot with those people from generation “X”. Can’t we just sit down and understand one another? OK. I understand peroos are kind-a like, “We are de say in dis pliace,” but if we sit down just a lil bit everyday and look each other in the eye, and be concerned with what our peroos feel about us and what we feel about them, we can understand one another. I think so. I think step by step, day by day, we can understand each other if we choose to listen to each other. We can reach a consensus. So if you are a parent and you read this blog and you too are a young person reading it, make it a choice to create a platform where there can be understanding between you and your child/parent.

Generational gaps should not be a hindrance to our unity as children and parents. We should seek to agree even if it seems impossible. Let’s not make it harder to join these generations. Of course they will never be uniformly united, but they can agree in the most essential parts of living. It is for this reason that when the next generation comes in, it can find a solid ground to build on from – somewhere to begin. Somewhere where people talk to one another and agree even when things have (or are) really blown or are blowing apart. The generation that is to come, generation “Z”, (whatever that means), should not grow apart from us but should grow at par with us…

So, go out there and make it count!

Blessings.

Morris.