The level of gun violence in Barbados is leaving many wondering what is happening to our young men.
The Joshua Men Young Guns is one group whose mandate is mentoring and empowering young men to seek God and do better in their lives.
Volunteering at last Saturday’s Barbados Vagrants and Homeless Society health fair and August feeding in Queen’s Park, leader of the group Haydn Rhynd said: “We are all here serving . . . . The programme encourages men to teach men and lead men how to be men.”
Rhynd noted that the group usually went through six books with the young men per year, teaching them about their sexuality, how to manage a business and be young men who follow Christ.
“We have been having tremendous results. Some of the guys were aimless and after a year with the Young Guns programme, they are now focused. They have determination to love others and to share the gospel of Jesus with others.”
Of the 30-odd-member group, Rhynd said: “We encourage young men to keep the genuine sense of who they are and to learn God’s nature; so that when we come out and interact . . . we are interacting with God’s love.”
Another member, Raymond Brathwaite, said: “We empower these young men . . . . I am seeing them develop and become greater and better.”
He noted that they utilised hiking, crayfishing, paddle boarding and other activities to teach the young men life skills.
Of the volunteering at Saturday’s fair and feeding, he explained: “In these settings these guys get to see life lessons right in front of them, [like] something that some person is doing around them that we can use as a teaching experience.” (LM)
