Each week we post an article or paper submitted by a member or "silent participant" of Guyana Caribbean Network. The featured article runs from Monday to Sunday each week. To submit an article for feature of the week contact us at admin@guyanacaribbeannetwork.com This week's feature is brought to you by Allison Skeete.

A Village Rebuilding Rites of Passage
by Allison Skeete

We of Caribbean heritage can relate to the African ancestral belief of it takes a village, to raise a child. Family Renaissances Dr. John McQueen of Grenadian birth & and Lorraine Oudkerk of Guyanese birth offer some answers for young men on how to become productive and respectable pillars of the community questions through their Rites of Passage programs. This group's work has been ongoing for 18 years at 123 Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn, the program begun by John McQueen provides young people with counseling, mentoring and practical support as they become teens and young adults.

The vision of Family Renaissance is to pass on and enhance cultural and spiritual heritage to the next generation through the educational, counseling and rites of passage programs for children and youths and through their annual summer day camp for school-aged children.

The program saw a boost in interest and has grown with new participants as well as parent and community support after it was featured in local community articles last summer. In fact, on August 6th, the group got one of its biggest boosts when Professor Sam Taitt aired an interview about Family Renaissance with its founder John McQueen on his Brooklyn 45 cable television program; the group teamed up with Glenda Perreira of GMAP Inc. a Guyanese owned consulting firm to host a weekend retreat for its participants and parents last September in Virginia.

The participants experienced an abridged version of the Rites of Passage program they offer, the hope was to help rebuilding the village emphasizing care and respect that many lack today in our world of disassociation from morals and values or broken or single parent homes so prevalent today. With the support of noted mentors like Guyanese national Dr. Stephen Carryl, Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Director of the Surgery Residency Program at The Brooklyn Hospital the groups held fundraisers to successfully sponsor about 20 participants to attend the retreat along with their parents. We must to teach our children, that they can make it and that they matter says Glenda Perreira; todays young men in our community must learn conflict management, to respond appropriately in situations.

Many cultures have some form of a rites of passage for their young men to make the transition into manhood, going back centuries said John McQueen; Dr. James Gatty, author and a guest at the fund raiser also agreed, if we dont show our children the betterment of designing todays video game instead of just playing it; well continue to loose them and theyll continue to simply be consumers and not owners he said.

Family Renaissance has started another cycle of the rites of passage program for young black males between the ages of 13-17 on March 6th. If you or anyone you know can benefit from this program please share this information. To support the Family Renaissance with a tax-deductible gift; contact them by telephone or email as listed respectively: 718-940-8598 or send an e-mail to john@familyrenaissance.org