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AKUAH
We at New Initiatives are delighted to announce the next AKUAH, our Young Women’s Rites of Passage Programme. If you are interested in getting a place or to find-out more please complete this form AKUAH Register Interest Form and return it to info@ritesofpassage.uk.com.
AKUAH seeks to increase self-motivation and self worth to empower young women to face, confront and resist many of the negative challenges of today’s teenage world.
Based on Traditional African Rites of Passage, AKUAH provides a positive context for female adolescent development and to assist young women in attaining the knowledge, skills and acceptance of the responsibilities, privileges and duties of an adult member of society thereby promoting positive and effective life choices.
“The AKUAH Rites of Passage programme provides invaluable support and guidance for girls as they experience the often difficult transition from childhood to adolescence. My daughter’s sense of who she is has strengthened since she joined AKUAH. She learns something new – about herself and about the world we live in – every week and can’t wait to tell me about it when she gets home. As such, AKUAH has become an invaluable resource for us as a family” Parent
AKUAH is open to young women of African heritage who are 12-14 years old. If you have a female member of your family/community (a daughter, sister, niece or cousin) who you feel could benefit from positive input and mentoring then contact us for more information.
New Initiatives adopted ‘Rites of Passage’ as the concept to best describe the nature and true purpose of our work. We embraced ‘Rites of Passage’ to empower ourselves to see the world through our own cultural lens. Since then, there has been no holding us back! Why is this important? Well…, when last did you hear youth workers, social workers, teachers, probation officers, youth offending officers etc, etc, use the words ‘Love’, ‘Ancestors’ or ‘Spirit‘ when delivering developmental programmes for young people? That’s exactly the point. As a society we seem to have arrived at a point where services for young people are about tackling ‘social problems’. That’s not our perspective. Our programmes are about supporting our Son’s and Daughters into adulthood with a true sense of family, community and purpose. New Initiatives is driven by a love for our people. We draw strength and acknowledge the Creator and our Ancestors and we work with Spirit. Our programmes are developed by the community for the community. Please reflect on a precious time that you had with your child. Like teaching them how to tie their own shoelaces or how to cross the road. Their first day at school. We know that when it comes to riding a bike that there comes a time when the stabilisers have to come off and they have to do the next bit on their own. These are huge events in the life of a child. And well before that of course, who wants to miss the moment when a toddler stands on their own two feet and takes their first few steps? Let’s now leap forward a number of years. Your Son or Daughter is now 13 years of age. Do you have the same sense of their development as they grow towards adulthood? Things can become quite difficult at this point, with many mixed messages as young people find themselves in-between stages – not a baby or an adult. There’s so much happening for young people from 13 – 17 years and for parents. It’s a time of great change and considerable pressure. As parents, sometimes we are over-protective to the point that young people feel unable to grow and at other times we are not supportive enough. We may even be completely unaware of what is really going on for our children. This is where New Initiatives comes in. We work with young people and parents through these challenging times. We provide programmes of transformation to adulthood and we work with parents in the process. Go through the website and blog to see what we do and feel free to get in touch, especially if it involves enrolling onto one of our programmes. Enrol Click here to Enrol a young person onto one of our programmes.
