Family Futures

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dvancing

ocial

ntegration

and

ntergenerational

olidarity

not well aligned with social consequences have brought in

their wake massive unemployment and under-employment.

Parents are no longer able to cater well for their children.

Children are not attending schools and do not have access

to quality affordable health care. There is domestic tension.

As a result of the economic downturn and what often seem

to be irreconcilable differences among parents, spouses are

now living far apart from their children and therefore rely

very much on telephones and the Internet to parent their

children. This form of ‘teleparenting’ does not adequately

enhance family and social cohesion and development. What

the children, parents and family need is the personal rela-

tionships that come from the inner souls of each member

of the family to each other. Teleparenting must rather build

on direct interpersonal family relations, particularly during

brief periods of separation.

On 22 November 2013, a CNN news item under the heading

‘When God isn’t on the guest list’ highlighted the increase in

marriages that are contracted without any reference to God,

Christianity (or any religion) and the active involvement

of family members.

The true sanctity of marriage, which

forms the bedrock of the family, is fast being thrown away by

‘modernists’. Many modernists are also eloping to get married

later, with many regrets coming soon after. When society

sows to the wind, it must be prepared to reap the whirlwind.

The causes and effects of divorce inmarriage are too many and

varied to be enumerated in this short article. It must be stated,

however, that the consummation of marriage and the establish-

ment of the family unit by many a person – particularly the

young aged 15-19 and 25-29 – and based on infatuation and

lust is very alarming and must be the concern of all.

On 28 January 2007, the

Public Agenda

newspaper

published the banner-headline ‘Alarming Divorces in 2006’,

stating that divorce cases had reached a record high in Accra,

the nation’s capital.

In 2006, a total 1,714 marriages were

registered and 633 were dissolved. In 2005, 2,199 were regis-

tered while divorce cases stood at 484. These are just the

reported cases. The consequences are very dire for children,

parents and society. In its 12 January 2012 edition, the

Public

Agenda

published a research finding which indicated that “if

marriages last more than 10 years they are likely to survive.”

The report said that the common time to separate was “soon

after seven years”. According to some social watchers, the

tragedy is that the number of divorces and disintegration of

families after four years is probably rising.

A further addition to the challenges and near breakdown of

the family is what is seen by the population to be the sudden

influx of foreign cultural practices that are inimical to local

values, virtues and family cohesion; irresponsible social

behaviours; and the breakdown of law and order. New distor-

tions of the existing knowledge of marriage and family are a

big worry to the majority of Ghanaians.

To cite some examples, on 20 November 2013 a Ghanaian

media site,

radioxyonline.com

, reported a statement by the

Ghana Health Service that 750,000 teenagers between the ages

of 15 and 19 had got pregnant within the past 12 months. Most

of these teenage mothers come from disintegrated families –

families with virtually no economic or social capital and as a

result no social support systems from the local communities.

Recently, a St Aquinas Senior High School graduate

committed suicide by hanging himself after attaining an

aggregate that was too low for him to gain admission to a

medical school. Investigations revealed that this student had

little or no family support.

Since 1993, the Africa Development Programme (ADP)

has been working with partners to promote good family

existence and relations through church worship, seminars,

social and economic empowerment of women and youth

development programmes.

In 2010/11, ADP collaborated with the SNV Netherlands

Development Organisation and other civil society organi-

zations to monitor and evaluate the Ghana School Feeding

Programme (GSFP). The GSFP aimed to provide one nutri-

tious hot lunch each school day for pupils in deprived

communities, in order to increase the enrolment and retention

of pupils. As a cross-positive impact it helped families to iden-

tify with the educational and social needs of their children.

In 2002/3, ADP was the regional coordinator/lead non-

governmental organization for the implementation of the

Food Marketing Programme for Small Scale Marketers in

the Eastern Region of Ghana for the Ministry of Finance,

Economic Planning and Regional Integration. This programme

provided funds for women to purchase food at the farm gates

so they could earn income to support their children and fami-

ly’s welfare.

Of particular importance is ADP’s collaboration with the

Accra West District of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church

to promote the sanctity of marriage and the family. More

recently, through its executive director, ADP co-facilitated

the development of a 10-year strategic plan of action for the

church district. The plan incorporates the establishment of

a multi-complex facility that will offer support for couples

ADP is working with organizations to promote the sanctity of marriage

Image: ADP