Welcome back to everyone from the peaceful Christmas holidays which for the most part were celebrated under strict measures of national lockdown due to the increased numbers of Covid-19.
My deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved during this period. It is the wish of this national club that we can be the original African communities which were always there for each other in and outside torrid times.
Until such time that we go back to the spirit of ubuntu, our communities and homes will continue paying a severe price of isolation and deprivation of what we could be if we cared and loved each other as the Lord our father does.
Let me welcome all leaders, Friends of SALGC (FOS) and the newly appointed SALGC national youth ambassadors who emanated from the recent SALGC national essay-writing competition. All eight of these young men come from various provinces across the republic of South Africa and we are grateful to have them as part of this noble course. They are the club’s voice to the youth of their communities and nation.
This year sees us beginning on a back foot since the club saw some unfortunate high profile resignations of one executive and one non-executive advisory board member for various reasons. We however believe that with time we will be able to attract the required replacements. We wish them well in their respective journeys of life, and we are grateful for their invaluable contribution and important part they have played in the growth of this club.
We are beginning the year 2021 on a high and promising note as our focus will not only be on all programs of last year, but adding more community programs which we hope will have a much needed community impact through men and boys. I am therefore appealing to all women of our nation, business, NPO’s and NGO’s to support all these efforts in order to build unity in our communities. We are not oblivious to the fact that all this hard work will not bear positive results if we do not work together as a nation. We are aware that this is a herculean job, and together as a nation we will be able to raise true leaders whose main focus will be to bring our communities and homes into glorious victory against the evil forces fighting the institution of family.
We are constantly seeing value vacillation everywhere we go, we have outsourced our family responsibilities and children’s education to the media which defines the acceptable models of family lives, including what a righteous family should be. This includes defining what a modern man is or is not, and this has resulted to a confused male whose identity comes everywhere else except from the source. It is no surprise that as a result, we experience high incidents of gender-based violence, child abuse, human-trafficking and bullying and killings of each other as men.
My message to everyone here is, we are on the same team, we will continue losing all battles we face as long as we see each other as them and us. Remember the African proverb which says “when two brothers fight to death, foreigners take their inheritance”. To fathers, let us give our children their righteous earthly lineage, it is their birth-right. SALGC is establishing what we call the Community club-houses throughout the country where we have representation. These clubs are meant to give men and boy-child comfort in whatever they are going through privately in their lives. The weight they carry in silence will be offloaded at these Community club-houses, which will be used as venting sites away from their children and partners. This is where they will be comparing notes on how to handle challenging situations in their respective lives – brotherhood centres.
We call on every member of the society, local businesses and all available stakeholders, including churches, to assist this club to see this mission accomplished. A stable nation requires a stable male in the centre of it all, unfortunately with this trifling man who lost his identity and in most cases his lineage, we will continue to see a perpetual culture of hopelessness around us. Philosophically, we believe that a stable family as the world first ever institution, produces a strong and much stable society whose foundation is seen in the quality of the leaders it produces. Building this strong and stable family will require a new contract amongst us all, signed between individuals, families, NGO’s and NPO’s, government and business. Woe be unto us, if we are going to take on the year 2021 with the same mentality and attitude as we did the previous years. We know better and have learned the hard way that nothing changes until our minds have changed.
I call on all professionals (Dr’s, Lawyers, Engineers, Media personalities and many more) including every single citizen to cultivate a culture of volunteerism for their communities. Join this club, and participate in all community based projects and programs in a coordinated fashion. We owe it to ourselves to leave a lasting legacy when we finally depart from this earth and none of us know how long we will be here for, so let us make a positive difference now while we still can.
Looking forward to a better 2021 with you all. Till we meet again next time.
Stay blessed.
“No matter how many times or how long you have been doing something, if it is wrong, it will continue giving you wrong results. You cannot change what you tolerate – traveling through N1 will never take you to Durban.”
– @Bo’T theOracle