MUGOTA

Derived from the shona term which is culturally the name given to the room where boys sleep. This room is where boys share their secrets, discuss day to day experiences and catch up on what is happening around them.

The onset of adolescence is a time of dramatic biological, behavioural, and social changes. These include rapid physical growth, sexual maturation, and emotional changes that range from igniting romantic interests to increased self-consciousness and social anxieties. Adolescence is also a time of new social challenges such as increasing academic pressures, competition with peers, and difficulties learning to balance desires for immediate gratification with an understanding of the importance of long-term goals and consequences. Amidst this myriad of adolescent changes there are also sharply increasing rates of problems with the control of behaviour and emotion despite the fact that the regulatory capacities are improving across this interval of development.

It is at this stage most adolescent boys carry this mental burden of unexplained changes into adult manhood. If they are lucky they will reach full adulthood without committing crime, but this does not qualify as an achievement. The lack of directional mentorship amongst programming with specific emphasis on the boy child leads to a gap in society which has led to degeneration of ubuntuism amongst youths, where in most cases the boy child is portrayed as and in some instances, the victim.

Our culture also encourages that the boy child be raised as a strong man, who does not express his feelings and thoughts of disappointment. Utterances such as “Murume haachemi”, “Shinga semurume” deprive open conversations among “boys” and a platform where they are encouraged that “It’s ok not to be okay””.

It is against this background, that S.A.L.T Africa has used this concept to encourage mental health discussions amongst young boys, in a setting where they are comfortable and familiar. With the training of Chipangamazano, the boys will have an elderly man who will assist in overseeing the program locally. Mugota champions will, amongst their peers cascade positive behavioural change amongst their age mates. This is posed at reducing the rate of young boys as perpetrators and societal outcasts.