Help Children Spend Holidays Usefully

Parents can be helped in different ways by training centers and clubs which can receive their children on holidays.-By Jean Berchimans Siboniyo

Ndayikengurukiye Dismas,:”We thought about this project because during holidays children can either earn their future or spoil it…” ©Iwacu

In Bujumbura, we are accustomed to hearing parents worrying about their children during the period of holidays. Parents worry about their children mostly in this period of holidays due to many reasons. When it is the school period, it is easy for parents to control their kids. Some who have cars take them to school, others give the task to the bus drivers and taxi men. When children arrive at school, it is the responsibility of the school authorities to keep them carefully. Then parents do not worry about what their children may be doing. But when the holiday’s period comes, no teachers will be following and controlling them. Children at home will then engage in what they like.
”We are often worried in that period. We are always ready to come across threatening surprises: unwanted pregnancies, violent behavior on the side of our sons quite often influenced by foreign movies”, states Gervais Sindatuma, a father of five children living at Kinanira I. It is not all. He also says that he must go to the center to make sure that they did not go somewhere else.
Teenagers like what brings immediate pleasure. But this may spoil their future pleasure. So parents can send their children to different places to cope with that serious matter.

Training centers and clubs play an important role

It is granted that through discussions and dialogues, parents can know the likes and dislikes of their children. They may also have necessary information about their interests. ”I do not frustrate my kids. I know them, thus I find it easy to make them busy. I give them individual tasks in the morning and in the afternoon I take them to IFB a French Institute in Burundi (Institut Français au Burundi),” mentions Gervais Sindatuma. Prosper Bukobero, a father of four children living at Kinanira II states: “my children like football as I do. During holidays I search for a coach who will keep them busy when I am at work. In the afternoon, I take them to IFB.”

Dismas Ndayikengurukiye, the Vice Chairman of East African Candle of Hope (EACH) tells us how they are prepared to keep children during this period:”We thought about this project because during holidays children can either earn their future or spoil it. We will teach them English in four skills, that is, speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Our training will be based on vocabulary and grammar rules with a particular focus on communicative methodology. This will help them in their ongoing process of school education. After training we will evaluate them through competitions and prizes for winners”. Granted, there are many centers and clubs in Bujumbura city and other cities of the country.
A child, for instance, may like electronic devices. It is suggested that he or she may be sent to a center, an association or a club which offers computing training. A child may like sport. In this case parents may send him or her to sport clubs, and we can find them in many places in the city. There may be children who like singing and praying. In this case, they may be sent to different choirs or prayers groups. There, they will enjoy rehearsing songs and praising God. According to one parent working at SOCABU, a biggest insurance company in Burundi nobody ‘resembles another’, children have different talents, skills and likes. It is up to the parents to get to know who they really are and guide them accordingly. Thus, they will have helped their beloved children to build their future now and in their lifetime.