The Belize Family Life Association is celebrating youth awareness month
and the first event was held today. It 's what they call "Male Talk"
and as the name suggests, it was only open to men. About 25 men spent the better
part of the day in the BFLA Conference Room talking and 7NEWS did the
manly thing: we attended.
Erwin X, Social Activist
"There will be a time for women."
But that time wasn't today as no females were allowed inside the BFLA conference
room It was a discussion for men only called 'male talk.' You had roughly 25
men including social activists, media personalities, and youth leaders in one
room for the day - engaged in a frank and open discourse on everything from
gang violence to homophobia.
Arthur Usher, Youth Coordinator - BFLA
"A lot of the problems have stemmed from the lack of male roles, the
lack of strength in the male and so to get back some of that energy, and to
get back some of that strength, we feel it is necessary for us to bring this
kind of gathering together so that guys can hear what the older guys are saying,
what the younger guys are saying, and so we can pool it together and pool our
energies. We thought that if the guys would come together and actually talk
about the situation by themselves, among themselves, then maybe we can thrash
out things without, I guess I'll use this term likely, without the distraction
of the female, then maybe we can get more done."
Andrew Lord says he participated in the discussion because men need to talk
more.
Andrew Lord, Participant
"This is important for males to get together and talk about the issues
affecting us. Personally what I want to get from this is for us to all know
what other males are thinking, what they believe are the issues."
And those are issues and problems which poet turned social activist Erwin X
says only men can solve.
Erwin X,
"Clearly there is a crisis that affects male today as a group and as
a body. We need to call a men's only meeting where men sit down and discuss
the real issues, discuss our role in society, discuss our role as fathers, discuss
our role as the breadwinners and discuss our role as positive and righteous
and meaningful examples to not only ourselves, to each other, to our young adolescents,
to this young generation, and into society at large. Clearly there is a crisis
at large and clearly there is a crisis among especially the black males in this
society and so we want to look at solutions to address this and set in the process
a plan of action that will take this discussion into the streets, into the schools,
into the homes, and into the nation of Belize where we call our men to make
a stand and become more responsible."
Youth Coordinator for BFLA Arthur Usher organized the male talk and he says
today's forum - which was moderated by Bert Tucker, is just the start.
Arthur Usher,
"Get people thinking in another direction rather than to just symptoms
of the problem, sometimes you have to go back and deal with the actual problem
internally and I think if guys would think about themselves and really focus
within, then they can get the strength and deal with other things in society."
Youth awareness month continues tomorrow with the BFLA Youth Group alumni
meeting at 7pm.
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