Browsing by Author "Waweru, Humphrey M."

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    African Indigenous Guidance and Counselling & Child Socialization Agents: Evaluating Aembu peoples’ Perception in the Redeemed Gospel Church, Embu County, Kenya
    (Jumuga Journal of Education, Oral Studies & Human Sciences (JJEOHS), 2020) Muriithi, Elizabeth Nancy; Gitome, Josephine W.; Waweru, Humphrey M.
    The aim of this article is to evaluate the perception of Pentecostal Christians in regard to the importance of the indigenous guidance and counselling among the Aembu indigenous society. In the latter, they socialized their children from birth to puberty. In a nutshell, emphasis is given to transitional rites of passage. Transitional rites of passage served as important tools of child socialization which was meant to instil moral values among the Aembu youths. In our contemporary society, many adolescents face moral issues which often call for intensive child socialization from home and church circles. In its theoretical framework, the article used the structural functional theory. Qualitative approach was applied as the determinant design. The article reveals that there are moral issues among the youth and that there are useful Aembu teachings and practices which were used in the Aembu indigenous society as socialization tools in order to instil moral values among youths to solve morality issues. The article concludes that there is an urgent need to put in place alternative rites of passage with the sole aim of coming up with effective child socialization programs.
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    circumcision Contestation Among African Christians in the Advent of a Rejuvenation of African Cultural Practices
    (ijmart, 2024) Kamau, Patrick Maina; Katola, Michael T.; Waweru, Humphrey M.
    Circumcision among many African communities is a vital and common rite of passage. Traditionally the rite was performed on both male and female teenagers but with the coming of the Europeans and the conversion of African communities to Christianity, female circumcision was discarded and eventually outlawed. Male circumcision survived despite European pressure. Many Europeans viewed circumcision as a psychologically hazardous exercise that was detrimental to the initiates’ physical health and a waste of valuable time that could be better utilised economically. Missionaries associated circumcision rituals with paganism laced with many outdated practices, thus there was need to Christenize the rites. The missionary fashioned the circumcision rite of passage into what they felt was in line with Christian values. Most of the circumcision rituals were discarded. The circumcision rite changed from a communal affair to an individual family affair. In the beginning of the third millennium, the church took started organizing circumcision camps for boys in churches in a bid to align the traditional practice to Christian values. This became the norm as the Kikuyu community’s cultural practices had overtime been inclined to the Euro Christian culture. At the same time a rejuvenation of Kikuyu culture was taking shape. The rejuvenation was given the impetus it required by the promulgation of the 2010 Kenyan constitution. From then on Kikuyu elders started organising their own circumcision camps targeting teenage Christians that were also targeted by the church. This has caused discontent among Kikuyu Christians necessitating a search for possible remedies to the contestation in a bid to have a spiritually fulfilled Kikuyu Christian.