According to the Shona culture sexual education is taught separately for boys and girls. The same pattern is reflected in the Church‟s Christian education system where sexual matters are concerned: they have put in place groups for boys and girls to be taught separately. These are the BCU and GCU organisations and they will be discussed in detail below.
4.4.1.3.1 The Boys Christian Union (BCU)
It has been pointed out earlier on that traditionally initiation was a long process involving the whole community and lasting at least several weeks. It was an integral part of community life in which the young boys of a particular age group were initiated into adulthood. Initiation marked the end of childhood and beginning of manhood. Although this traditional process of initiation was not adopted into the life of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, the whole educational programme for boys seems to be modelled around the traditional approach.
Thus in the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, all boys are encouraged to be members of the Boys‟ Christian Union (BCU). This group is divided into two groups – junior BCU (ages 6 to 12) and senior BCU (ages 13 to 25). Lessons for the junior BCU are mainly aimed at encouraging the young boys to be gender sensitive, thus to appreciate themselves as boys who will one day grow up to be fathers. Emphasis is for the senior BCU is mainly aimed at them realising the beginning of their adulthood. Examples of such lessons are: Courtship; How to choose a girl for marriage; Where to meet an ideal partner; What to look for in a life partner; Characteristics of a perfect husband; Why it is important to get married; How to get married the Christian way. These are just some of the lessons that make up the syllabus for the BCU organisation. In these organisations they also have an advisor (baba)253 who supervises their activities and advises them where necessary. The advisor is also there to monitor their programmes, making sure that they meet the intended objectives, that is finding the right girl and getting married. If the advisor notices any untoward behaviour from the
253 While in the traditional setting uncles (vana sekuru) are expected to teach the boy child while the aunties
(vana tete) are there for the girl child, in the Methodist church in Zimbabwe married elderly members of the church are chosen to teach the BCU and GCU members. Two men (baba nasekuru, thus an uncle figure and a grandfather figure) are chosen for the boys (BCU) and two women (mai nambuya, thus an auntie figure and a grandmother figure) for the girls (GCU). These elders are there to reinforce the expectations of the church, that is to educate and train the boys and girls to become responsible adults to be specific, thus responsible, „wives and husbands‟.
boys he would let the family and the minister in charge know so that appropriate action can be taken. This action mostly takes the form of counselling and prayers.
In most cases the intended results are achieved. However, statistical evidence from the circuit under study proves that most of the boys get married traditionally but for some reason very few make it to the Christian wedding.254 Just like in the Shona traditional setting, the Methodist Church also expects all its youths to get married and have children.255 Most Christian weddings in the Methodist Church take place after couples have had children first.256 This goes to show the centrality of children even among Shona Christians. The BCU education syllabus is designed in such a way that all members are groomed to marry. One may wonder if the Church by its approach to Christian education, is bullying its young boys into marriage. In relation to the topic under study, one can argue here that an all boys environment is good enough for those whose sexuality is not considered as appropriate by the Church to practice behind the religious orders without raising any eyebrows. In this case then, the Deed of the Church Order and Standing Order of the Methodist Church does enable same sex relationships, it just does not categorically state it.
254 From the 22 churches in Chivero circuit between 2001 and 2004, 233 young people were reported to have
been married in the minutes of the quarterly Meetings. However, of these 233 marriages only 23 were reported to have had a Church wedding and the rest undertook the traditional Shona marriage only. Chivero circuit Minutes of the quarterly Meetings January 2001-January 2004.
255 In an interview with Rev Makwehe, a retired minister of the Methodist church in Zimbabwe, he emphasised
the role of baba and sekuru (father figure and uncle figure) in the BCU as to persuade every boy to have a girl friend and get married, he used the Shona adage “zirume risinganyengi hariroore” which means if a boy does not make an effort to have a girl will remain a bachelor. And being a bachelor in Shona culture is not something to be proud of. So this is intended to encourage all boys to always be on the look-out. If once a boy is married from the BCU group, baba would still make follow-ups to the boy to see if „everything is going on well‟ mainly if the wife is now pregnant, only when the wife has given birth to her first child that baba will stop visiting. Interview with Rev Makwehe, Sandringham Mission, Chivero Circuit. December 2003.
256 Of the 63 church weddings recorded in Chivero circuit between January 2001 and January 2004; 42 were
recorded as having the wedding after having at least one child, 7 were pregnant and 14 were not pregnant. Minutes of the quarterly Meetings, Chivero circuit, January 2001 to January 2004.
4.4.1.3.2 The Girls Christian Union (GCU)
Shona Christians have continued to appreciate the importance of preparing their children for responsible and mature adulthood. Since it is obligatory for all adults to marry in traditional Shona society, the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe intentionally designed its Christian education curriculum for girls to meet this particular requirement. Thus, by forming the Girls‟ Christian Union (GCU), a programme is specially designed to prepare the young girls in the Church to be conscious of not only the Church‟s expectation of them but also that of society, thus to get married. The curriculum for this organisation include programmes like the following: Where and how to choose a perfect husband; Praying for a husband; Health and hygiene; How to be presentable as a lady; Flower arrangement; Tidiness; What to look for in a good husband. They are taught a wide range of housekeeping duties including ironing, bed making, cooking, sewing, spring cleaning and a bit of gardening.
The nature of these lessons is meant to prepare the girls to be ready for marriage, to be responsible housewives. In order to achieve this aim, the educational syllabus is designed to utilise material from both Shona culture and the Bible. All the programmes are closely monitored by the girls‟ advisors amai and ambuya, (auntie figure and grandmother figure). Any untoward behaviour is reported to the family or the minister‟s wife who would advise as appropriate. All the girls are encouraged to introduce their boy friend to amai or ambuya who in turn will closely monitor their relationships. The main aim in the GCU is to get everyone into Christian marriages. Most of the girls do get married but not in the Church to begin with. For the majority of girls, it is only after they have had children that their husbands agree to the Church wedding. All the girls interviewed seemed to express that they would rather have the Church wedding before becoming mothers if it was their choice. However, in the Shona context it seems the man has the final decision as to when the Church wedding is to be held.
And, as noted earlier, since children are central in Shona marriages, men consciously delay Church marriages until such a time when they are convinced that the wife can have children. Consequently, the survival of a childless relationship is extremely low. Even though the Christian education syllabus for the girls seems to encourage the girls to get married one can also argue that by creating an all girls environments, the Church has unconsciously created a conducive environment where those with homosexual orientation can easily have their relationships camouflaged within the GCU organisation. Therefore, subtly, the Deed of Church Order does accommodate same sex relationships. It is not what it says but what it does not say, bearing in mind that this is a very secretive society when it comes to sexual matters.
It can be rightly concluded that the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe‟s youth organisational programmes and Christian education are consciously designed to encourage young people into marriages. Any divergence from the Church‟s teaching is faced with discipline which can be in the form of reducing a person‟s membership until they are ready to abide by the Church‟s regulations. The traditional approach to moral education, it appears, is viewed as compatible with the Christian community by the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. The common element between these organisations (BCU; GCU) is not only to create conducive environment to teach sexually related issues in a socially acceptable manner but also that they are patterned on the Shona traditional social structures of gota (BCU), and nhanga (GCU). However, it can be noted that, the Methodist Church in its frantic attempt to get its young people into marriage has created an environment favourable for same sex practice.