Traditions that have help/hindered young people in finding their place in the Community today

A youth is a particular group of people who are below adult hood stage and who are trying to make decisions of their own. There are different definitions defining youth.

The advance English dictionary Thesaurus defines youth as “is the time of life between childhood and early maturity; Youth is early maturity; the state of being young or immature or inexperienced.” The Google definition states that, it is “the period of between childhood and adulthood stage.”

The World Health Organization defines youth as “a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence and awareness of four interdependence as members of a community. Youth is a more fluid category than a fixed age-group. ‘Youth’ is often indicated as a person between the age where he/she may leave compulsory education, and the age at which he/she finds his/her first employment.”

The Catholic Bishop of Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands defines youth as “age between fourteen and twenty five (if necessary up to thirty) years old single person belonging to a parish or community (emphasis added). Youth is a passage from the childhood to the adulthood and during this passage there involves an enormous amount of energy, enthusiasm, challenges, learning, trying to make commitments and beginning to make a foundation for the better life.”

By defining first of all what youth is; it should enlighten to our mind an understanding of this particular group of people and how the tradition of our society (or of our people) had greatly influence their life. That is how it had groom and raise them up. Again, the advance English dictionary Thesaurus define tradition as “an inherited pattern of thought or action; a specific practice of long standing.”

The Google definition states that is the “transmissions of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.”

The tradition and customs of a society has greatly influence the type of youth in its own particular setting and environment, both in the urban and rural setting. In that way it engulfs, and transforms the youth in its personality and behavior. This can be seen by the characters of a particular youth by the way he/she acts and behave. In further discussions, we will discussed on what the traditions of our society have helped young people finding their place in the community today and how it had contributed immensely in hindrance of youth life to grow successful in life and become a prosperous person in its future life. Thus, ending up in social problems such as unwanted pregnancy, single parent and racialism, to name only a very few. 

A tradition is a particular practice or a belief that is passed on within a particular group of people in a society, or an accepted norm that everyone in a surrounded territory of environment have truthfully without denial live for generations to generations.  The Advance English Dictionary and the Google definition clearly defined that. Let take for example the Tolai Society, it has been a tradition that someone who is sick, or had died, it is usually because of Sorcery. Even though the death is clearly and medically pronounced as due to certain cause, such as a the death of pmv driver who is heavily possession of alcohol while driving end up in a nasty fatal accident, died straight on the sport.’ The Tolais at the end will always point out their final death conclusion; “The death is sorcery related.” The reason is because; it has been a passed on belief, or an inherited pattern of thought and action which has been a specific practice of long standing and it had been passed on from generation to generations. In short, it has been the Tolai custom and tradition to assume death in that manner.

Youth we understand are very immature and inexperience group of people who are trying to finding their place in the community, where they want life more loving, safe and exciting to discover new experiences in life. It has been a challenge over the years until today, for a youth to be fully accepted by everyone as part of the community. In reality, youths tend to realize that they are being outcasts in their own communities or within their own families. The reason is because they are not being fully accepted by their own family members, relatives or the community they are living. Parents and community elders are in higher expectations that a youth must grow up a perfect person, must be clever and smart to succeed in school and must abide by the laws of the communities. This has been a tradition and accepted norm in each community. Not realizing youths are immature and very inexperience, the parents, the village elders and even everyone throw fingers at the young people, blame them as trouble makers and the poor youth is confused how he/she is able to finding their place in the community a loving & safe place to live. He/she will live to be an outcast to the family and community. This is more common with our Tolai society, and more youths are roaming the community aimlessly. They become useless citizens of the community as they never understood how it is like to dream the future. Some had been accused falsely for practicing sorcery. They ended up being innocent victims.

In a rural setting first of all, we must understand that the society function by its pillared values, morals and standards that unified that particular group of people to function according to its principles being set. This is found true in all rural settings. We can prove by its Chief clans found in its communities. And to affirm this has been a tradition possessing dignified values. Every member submits and functions under one authority, the Chiefs authority. In an urban setting ‘it doesn’t possess any value at all, not even, even there are laws which the government had set.’ Here I’m talking form a PNG urban setting perspective. The reason because it is a multicultural setting, and it doesn’t functioned on pillared values. Take for example; in the Tolai society when a Stranger or a Visitor is visiting a home, he/she is welcome by a gift of buai and daka. This is to show acceptance to the home, it is also a show of value to the particular person and it is also a sign of strengthening the value of relationship within the visitor and the occupants of the home. Most importantly it is a sign of Respect. The Visitor should have a feeling of Safety, and he/she will be guaranteed that his/her visit will not leave with an empty hand when he/she leaves the home. The Chief is its responsibility that its clan members possess good personal characteristics that values LIFE. This is had been a tradition. While in an urban setting it actually does not. For sure it is practiced but not upon values guaranteed to safeguard LIFE. In an urban setting every stranger are being feared (e.g. Robbery or Beggar) and therefore the value of LIFE is being overlooked and regarded to be less important just like animals. 

A youth brought up in a rural setting function upon a pillared value while a youth brought up in an urban setting is like wanderer floating like a balloon upon an air space without a built foundation. This is evident by how vulnerable women are in an urban setting. When we say function; it is to act, behave and live by values and moral principles that VALUES LIFE of a particular person. The rural areas of and even villages closer to urban settings in Kokopo and Rabaul has still uphold the dignity of their Tumbuan Society. Its core values are: HUMILITY, RESPECT AND LOVE.

In discussion to name only four, our tradition is still of great significance in both the rural and urban setting. First of all, being self-reliant or being independent. Since youth involves an enormous amount of energy, enthusiasm, challenges, learning, trying to make commitments and beginning to make a foundation for the better life, every parent in the rural setting has preserver through in making sure the young children struggles through with them but think independently in order it sets a foundation to living a better life in the future. This is evident by the number of rural students who earned higher positions more than kids raised in urban settings.  After meeting up with 10 university students  who hails from the most rural areas of Pomio District of East New Britain , they had their similar response of approval;  “I appreciate being brought up in the rural environment, it mold me to live life competitively in an urban scenario.” In urban setting parents are too busy with their work and social life, giving very less time to discipline their children. The children grew to become the laziest person in an urban setting and instead, find life more pleasurable in sports and night partying in night clubs.

• Parental Higher expectations upon their children had hindered young people from performing out of their own ambitions as they had to struggle to fulfill their parents’ expectations. Not only that but it resulted in them giving up continuing studies.

• Parents are making arranged marriage upon the kids which prevents them to freely excel in life and to pursue their dreams. While it is said to be not practiced in urban setting, it is more common among strong ethnic group like the Tolais and Highlanders. Women are witnessed to be heavily the victims.

•  Social problems, such as alcohol and drugs do results in issues such fighting, violating young girls and even raped. Mental illness is one end result too, of taking drugs illicitly. Though it is an urban issue, it is already a rural setting issue too. And it affects both the young man and young woman.

• Unwanted pregnancy is one issue more common in both the rural and urban setting. Upholding Family Life values should be upheld in order that children grow to uphold their personal dignity and preserve it until marriage life. Sexual Promiscuity activities had greatly resulted in lack of trust among couples who by the time they are engaged for marriage had already more than one or two sexual partners. It pose a great risk to one’s partner’s trust and therefore family break ups and divorced arise.  It is also the reason young woman and even divorced mothers are left with unwanted pregnancy. It therefore hinders the education life of the young woman and of course brutality and wounding to the young man or a divorced father.Since a Youth is an early maturity; the state of being young or immature or inexperienced, a youth or young man can be very rebellious to defend its innocence knowing he is not at fault.

The misconception of establishing an acquired tradition of not upholding a tradition that is built upon pillared values, moral principles and standards can be heavily witnessed by the four ways traditions of the urban and rural settings discussed in combination above. Those that help in the urban and rural settings should be uphold while the hindrances ways should be overcome with a change to do better. 

To conclude, children learn better from what they see. Not from what they hear. For a youth to become a successful person in the community of rural and urban setting every parent must raise their children with the utter most discipline. Proverbs 13:24, clearly says “Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them.”
Youth as we understood are very inexperience people, they live in a life passage where it involves an enormous amount of energy, enthusiasm, challenges, learning, trying to make commitments and beginning to make a foundation for the better life.”If they are well discipline in early childhood they are able to overcome hindrances of our traditions and uphold the values of our traditions. In that way, they will pursue a successful future in both the rural and urban settings.

Dated: 10^th June 2015. Original Script authored and post by Benedict Warwakai.

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