Effectiveness of Religious-Based Rites of Passage Programme in Mentoring Adolescent Boys in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya

This study involved a sample of 25 boys who had participated in the rite of passage, 7 members of the clergy and 5 focus groups from Nairobi region of PCEA. The main purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the religious based rite of passage programme for boys’ circumcision in mentoring adolescent boys in the PCEA. Specific objectives were: to describe the content of the Christian rite of passage programme curriculum; determine the attitude of the boys towards the Christian rite of passage program; to investigate parental/guardian involvement; To establish the role of the Christian rite of passage programme mentors; to assess the key indicators of effective mentorship from the boys. Descriptive qualitative method was adopted for this study, while purposive sampling procedure was used to select Participants for this study drawn from 5 parishes within 5 presbyteries of the Nairobi region. The qualitative data collected was analyzed into themes along the study objectives. The results indicated ineffectiveness of the programme by PCEA in addressing issues affecting the adolescent boys in contemporary society; showing some decline in positive sexual behavior and in academic performance after undergoing the rite, only indicating an improvement in the substance and drugs abuse. The study further revealed lack of uniformity and the unstructured nature of the programme in the PCEA and involvement of untrained mentors. The results point to a need for further restructuring of the rite of passage in the PCEA to make it a process that is more beneficial to the boys. The study recommended that the Church appoints a board that will work towards standardization, uniformity and improvement of the programme structure and curriculum content and advice on selection, recruitment and training of mentors.