Youth told to make prudent choices for better future
A preacher of the Gospel of Christ, Evangelist John Franklin Tamakloe, has counseled the youth to be prudent in the choices they make in order to enjoy a fruitful life in future.
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He said rather than grumbling, murmuring and chasing after non-existent jobs, which will only lead to the destruction of an otherwise promising future, they should pursue education and skills acquisition, and seek opportunities to add value to themselves so they can be productive for themselves and the nation.
Evangelist Tamakloe gave the advice as keynote speaker at a day-long youth forum held in Tema on Monday for more than 2,500 youth drawn from various congregations of the Church of Christ in the Greater Accra Region.
The forum, the 54th in the series of bi-annual Youth Day celebrations of the Church, and hosted by the Tema Community 2 congregation, was on the theme: “Decisions Determine Destinies”.
Evangelist Tamakloe pointed out that decision making is an every minute task required of everyone, with future consequences and ramifications for the individual, the community, the church and nation.
Evangelist John Franklin Tamakloe
“The direction your life will take, is determined by the choices and decisions you make today, what tomorrow will be is determined by today. What you’ll become tomorrow, what you’ll become next week, one year, five years, ten years, whatever you will become is determined by what you do today. So the decisions and choices you make, they are the reflections of your life,” he said.
He said the world presents many choices daily, and it is for the individual to decipher which ones are critical decisions to make and which ones are not, so that precious time is not wasted on non-essentials.
“Very often we find ourselves chasing non-essential matters leaving behind the important things for our lives and as a result we have a mediocre life, unfulfilling life, an unsuccessful life.”
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The participants who included civil/public servants, teachers, nurses, graduates, undergraduates, students in SHS/JHS and technical schools, artisans, apprentices, pensioners and children, were mentored by seasoned Christians on topics such as Creating multiple income sources; Exploring employment/entrepreneurship opportunities; Preparing for the job market; How to make the best out of my life; How to win customers and keep them for life; Preparing to be on your own; How to survive pension; and Being a child God loves.
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When career choices conflict with parents’
Dr. Michael T. Anim of the University of Cape Coast Medical School, counseled that in most cases when parents insist on particular academic or career options for children, they do so on the assumption that they want the best for them.
He said however, that if any child/ward is very convinced that another option is more suitable, it may require other people to intervene on his/her behalf. They will therefore need to acquire good communications skills to talk with the parents. Anger or aggression will not solve the problem.
Asked if it is a good practice to combine work and schooling, Dr. Anim said no blanket answer is solution enough as different people may face different challenges.
He said if parents have the means to support one’s education but are refusing for some reason, then it requires a different approach. But if the student knows that the parents do not have the means, then the best thing to do is to seek some employment to raise funds to support his or her education.
Dr. Anim said many people who have succeeded in life did so by dint of hard work and urged the youth not to be afraid to embrace diligent work.
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Good services cost more
Dr. Victor Boadu of the Adenta congregation of the Church, in his interaction with university students and graduates, said they should always look for opportunities to add value to themselves, adding that in most fields, it takes no more than a year of apprenticeship for a diligent graduate to bridge the gap between theory and practice and become a master in the job market, however most fresh graduates shy away from apprenticeship because friends would mock them.
When he quizzed them on which of schooled or unschooled service providers they would prefer to receive service from, they unanimously chose schooled service providers, whereupon he told them that in the developed world even the basic of services are provided by graduates hence the high cost of services because they offer good quality too.
He said a lot of Ghanaian graduates who travel abroad to seek greener pastures hardly get ‘office jobs’ but dutifully take up menial jobs to make a living and wondered why it is not possible for the same graduate to offer that high quality service locally.
He said they must also train to be good entrepreneurs able to create jobs and offer employment opportunities to others.
Evangelist George Asah
Customer care critical
Evangelist George Asah of the Nsawam Road Church of Christ, Accra, who interacted with the self-employed and artisans, urged them to put their customers first and never to cease to delight them. He said genuine care and service have multiplier effects that may posit their businesses well and make them profitable, just as poor service and uncaring attitudes have the potency to destroy customer relationships and businesses.
Citing a personal experience, he said he grew accustomed to buying bread from a seller but who one late evening refused to sell him the last loaf because according to her, she was taking it home to feed her family. He said this was after he had driven over a considerable distance and passed many other sellers all in the joy that he was going to buy from a regular customer, only to receive that slap in the face.
“In my home we consume bread a lot and I don’t go out without eating bread. For the past 16 years this customer lost me for that act of refusing me my favourite, she did not consider my needs but her’s first. That is not how to handle your business,” he counseled, adding also that in seeking to do little, little things to delight their customers, they should remember that not only do people care about what they want, they also care about how they want it.
Bro Stephen Nyanney-Bortsie
Forum Evaluation
Bro Stephen Nyanney-Bortsie, host-chairman for the occasion, expressed joy at the huge number of the youth who turned out to seek their own welfare rather than indulge in social vices as many are wont to especially on a big holiday as Republic Day.
He said the youth in particular lack experience in many aspects of life and need regular counselling so they can make right decisions concerning their own future, and that learning from successful people who freely share their experiences was a most practical way to impart knowledge.
Bro Stephen Nyanney-Bortsie said there are many ways the youth can create jobs for themselves and they need to open their eyes to such opportunities and take advantage of them.
He said the platform also offers participants opportunities to fraternize and network with fellow believers, which is a cardinal objective of the organisers so that brotherliness can be achieved. Above all, the forum over the years has yielded positive results as it has equipped many participants with jobs and fresh ideas for life hence the increasing participation at each forum.
