HOMILY GUIDELINE FOR YOUTH DAY 2003

So today, 12 March 2003, we celebrate Youth Day in Zambia.  But what really happens on Youth Day? A lot of parades and “march-bys.”  Plenty of speeches, full of strong challenges and remarkable promises.  Some special sporting events, as one youth football club battles another for fame and glory.  Some extra food and drink for a few privileged “youth leaders” (some of who already look very old!).  Maybe even a special church homily like this one, reminding us that the young people of today are the leaders of tomorrow.

But does all this really make any difference?  Will the many, many youths of Zambia – an estimated 60-65% of Zambians are below the age of 21! – be better off tomorrow because of what is said and done today?  Will youth play a more important role in our country’s life, especially in addressing an unacceptable situation where 80% of Zambians are living below the poverty line and suffering greatly?

Surely a very well-known proverb in Bemba (and there are probably similar proverbs in our other Zambian languages) teaches us: ”Imiti ikula empanga.”    Yes, just as today’s small trees will tomorrow be a great forest, so the young people of today will be our leaders and our hopes of tomorrow.  That bit of wisdom is very true, isn’t it?  But we have heard it so many times that we may tend to ignore it and the challenges it presents to us.

Do I, an older person, recall that proverb when I walk by the many street kids who live hopeless lives in our Zambian towns and cities?  Do I, a young person, think about that proverb when I look around at my peers in the village, out of school, unemployed, sitting around all day with nothing to do?  What is happening to our future leaders and to our hopes for tomorrow?

I think that the Gospel story of Jesus and the rich young man certainly calls all of us, both the young and the old, on this Youth Day of 2002.  It teaches us two very good lessons.

First, in the Gospel of Mark we hear that the man “ran up to Jesus” with a very important  question:  “What should I do to gain the fullness of life?”  He ran up:  he was eager, he was anxious, he really  wanted to know what to do!  It is good for all of us in Zambia to recognise that our young people of today are indeed eager to learn, are truly anxious about finding a job, are really searching for the right thing to do.  Sometimes we might only hear young people’s complaints about the way things are.  Well, maybe that is just another form of expressing out loud their desires and their hopes, another way of telling us their dreams and their goals, another way of crying out for help in making sense out of life.

Remember the story of Eli and Samuel in the Old Testament?  Samuel kept hearing a voice in the night calling out his name and he didn’t know what it meant.  It was only the kind and wise words of the elderly Eli that helped him understand that it was God who was calling him and that he had only to honestly and humbly answer that call and his life would be on the right path.  Our youth need to seek help from elders and be eager to follow good advice.  If they don’t, they can meet real misfortune, as the Bemba proverb teaches us: “Umwana ushunfwa amenene umwefu kwikoshi!”  The child who doesn’t seek and follow good advice ends up in bad trouble!

Second, the Gospel of Mark also tells us that “Jesus looked on the young man with love.”  Jesus saw what was good in that young person, realised the young person’s searching, and recognised that he had a responsibility to help the youth with words of advice and encouragement.  In Zambia today, the parent, the teacher, the village elder, the older person in a work place: all can make a big difference in a youth’s life if they look on that person with love and respect and offer good advice.

In St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy, we hear the strong words of the old apostle to his young disciple:  “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for the believers in your conduct, your love, faith and purity.”  In today’s world of so many extremely serious problems like poverty and  HIV/AIDS, young people need to rely on good directions from older people.  The Nyanja proverb teaches us that lesson in a beautiful image:  “Umililo uwuchingililwe nabakalambe taocha.”  The protective arms of our elders keeps us from harm!

How can we in Zambia realise the wonderful potential of the youth to make a difference in our country today?  Almost 65% of all Zambians are below the age of 21.  Our overall life expectancy has fallen to less than 37 years.  We are indeed a very young country!  In think we need to listen to our young people, we need to involve them in the decision-making that affects their future, we need to offer them good advice but also learn from their own experiences and competencies.

For example, in our struggle to make democracy wok in Zambia, we should not only encourage young people to vote but also to run for public office.  Maybe they have to wait a few years before reaching the eligible age to become President (35), but they still can become members of Parliament or local councilors.  And if competent and honest, they can do a very good job in improving the lives of all Zambians.

In our own church, do we invite young people to take up positions of responsibility, for example, by becoming members of the Parish Council or Eucharistic Ministers?  Sometimes, in some parishes, everything of authority is done only by older people.  Youth are ignored, except to sing in the choir or clean the grounds.   As a result, we miss the serious contributions that young people can make to build a better community of Christians. The young lose interest and drop out.  And we are all poorer for that!  (Remember – Jesus did his entire public ministry while only in his early thirties – was he a young person?)

As we celebrate Youth Day this year, let’s ask each other – old and young – what we need to do to draw upon the abilities of our young people to improve the life of our communities.  How can we help youth become more productive in our economy?  What are we doing to assure that they can get a good education?  Are young people learning the best of Zambian cultural values or do they only follow Western ways coming to them though television and music?

Another proverb tells us that “Youth is too precious a time to be spent only on the young!”  By that is meant that we all wish we could be young, to be enjoying this glorious time of having a future ahead of us.  Today let’s pray that that future will be a wonderfully bright one for our Zambian youth – and hence, a wonderfully bright one for all of us!

SKETCH:

[Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, P.O. Box 37774, 10101 Lusaka, Zambia]