HOW FRESH IS FRESH KID?

The music industry In Uganda has a new kid on the block whose stage name is Fresh Kid, real names, Ssenyonjo Patrick.

The boy is just seven years old and he performs at night in many clubs and happening places. I have listened to his music and I have to be honest, the child is talented in the field.

I have also watched some of his interviews on the internet and as a parent, all the talk has left me in total confusion. This boy is 5 years younger than my son and at this age, he is on stage being hailed by all the fun-merchants.

According to the Minister of State for Youth and Child Affairs, Hon. Florence Nakiwala, this boy must stop these performances and focus on school. [Edit: She later apologized and allowed him to continue performing.]

THE CONTROVERSY

Ugandans, are divided on this issue and apart from a few who are indifferent, there are two aggressive sides. One that argues that the boy should stop and focus on classwork while the other group insists the boy must be supported in what he is doing and continue.

The honorable minister is against the presence of this boy in bars and discos at night and also the fact that the boy is exposed to these adult and adulterated places at this age.

The other school of thought insists that for this boy to have discovered talent this early is a blessing and we should celebrate and support this boy.

THE CRISIS

The issues surrounding the life of this toddler have actually helped me review how people look at things depending on their situations, interests and vantage points in life. This event has helped review the worldview of our communities.

It has manifested before me that this is not something that has originated with the event of this boy, but rather this boy has ignited a mindset that has been nurtured for a while.

It is evident that what people consider and define as a problem has been reduced to economics and deductively the solution cannot be anything outside economics.

The question is, if fresh kid is born in a country where people who have gone to school for an economically better life are paupers, jobless and walking up & down the streets, while majority of our celebrities who cannot construct a sentence in English correctly are doing well economically, why not do the needful and follow what has proved to be the obvious path?

In Uganda, school has been reduced to economic value and with such a conclusion, I can assure you, musicians are wealthier than graduates at large.

Now, this is the build-up of the crisis:

1. First, we are poor and in lack, it is poverty (the HOW of our economic life),
2. Then this poverty affects our judgment (HOW we see things and how we think about life altogether and define our problems based on our pain)
3. And the third stage of the poverty cycle is when it determines the solution (what we know is the right thing that can help given the problem our poverty helped in defining).

Fresh Kid comes from a poor family and it is his talent that can and will help this family. It doesn’t matter his age as long as this toddler is securing a future and survival for this drowning family, we must sacrifice the childhood of this boy for this cause.

Mental poverty dictates that on a ship, adults should cast their children into the sea to survive the storm and secure a better future for the other children they will have. Woe unto my world. I find this a crisis and basically what I call the logic of a prostitute.

A prostitute is one who transacts her body to save it. How can we reduce the life and identity of Patrick to an economic value? Yes, the boy has talent, but personally, I have never met anyone who has no talent? But shouldn’t talent be applied incrementally?

A 7-year-old in a disco looks like a paradigm shift to me and no wonder few who started this early have survived in the industry. And those who did, died hopeless and desperate. Are we saying whoever has talent needs not to go to school or that talent shouldn’t be nurtured?

FRESHNESS

I have listened to the lyrics of his songs and I have watched him being interviewed and concluded that the boy isn’t fresh anymore as his stage name claims.

First, the boy’s interest in school is being eroded rapidly and I can tell you that he prefers the stage than the class right now. Secondly, Fresh Kid before the camera told the world that he no longer has any business with other children of his age. He addressed them as “young kids” and he cannot play with kids.

One inconsiderate moderator asked him about the president and the boy said the president “….has governed us poorly”.

Now tell me, were these his words from his thought pattern or adult insertions raping the innocent mind?

As you can see, Fresh Kid is no longer “fresh”, as his name claims but needs to be refreshed just like the majority of our children need to be. We must stop abusing the childhood of our children.

My friend Ivan is a coach and he is hired by affluent families to go and coach their children. Ivan told me that he has been to affluent families where the children are not allowed to watch T.V. and even when they access a screen, it is for one hour and they watch from a CD with particular content.

While some parents do not allow their young ones to be exposed to a T.V, other parents are contending government to let their children be licensed into brothels.

This shows that some parents are preparing leaders while others are preparing followers. How are we (sober parents) going to stop our children going to these places if their agemate (Fresh Kid) is officially licensed?

Well, I have been to adult drama theatres and seen parents with children and this is how fallen we are.

As a parent, I insist that Patrick Ssenyonjo is helped and be rehabilitated. He needs to be refreshed and then sent back to school. He needs to think, talk and act like his age.

It is not worth it sacrificing this boy for the money he makes. After all, he won’t make much for himself as he will make for his managers (opportunists). Let us, as adults do not abuse the childhood of our children.

It is because of this abuse that we are suffering from the present adults including the legislators who are supporting this boy to stay in bars. The Bible says Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. (Proverbs 22:6 NRS).

Now let me ask: AFTER PATRICK HAS MADE ALL THIS MONEY, THEN WHAT?

God bless you I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah White (+256-793-822833)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
@Think & Become