Report on infidelity should be a wake-up call to all

Kenya: It was sad to read in The Standard on Sunday last Sunday that infidelity had become a grim reality in our marriage relationships. This points to the fact that the family unit is under threat from illicit affairs.

In the cited research, professionals, marriage experts and religious leaders all agree that infidelity has been, and is still here with us and is unlikely go away any time soon. This is very disturbing news to our family setting, considering the myriad risks that come with it.

Our family units are so critical to the stability of our nation that I feel we all individually and collectively have to do something to reverse a social crisis. Both men and women in marriage relationships are culpable and need to urgently review their external relationships and reaffirm commitment to the family union before things get out of hand.

Coupled with the foregoing and equally shocking is the fact that a recent report indicates that HIV is spreading faster in married couples compared to the unmarried ones.

From what we have been witnessed, infidelity is a leading cause of family violence, which in some occasions turns fatal, separations and even murder conspiracies. Shocking incidents of spousal murders, burning of property, suicides and venting wrath on innocent children all leave us questioning what became of our family units.

A closer look brings to the fore the element of infidelity and/or absconding of marital duty. It could be the man or woman in a marriage who gets to his or her wits’ end to commit murder or suicide.

This is an unfortunate trend that we have all perpetuated in one way or another. Everyone of us in marriage (and also those not in marriage) has to come to terms with the grim reality and try to engage a robust reverse gear to counter the repercussions of this retrogressive practice.

We men should be men enough to see where we have failed in terms of marital obligations, and women should try to be the biblical kind who ‘build their houses but not pull them down with their own hands’. It’s also simple, borrowing from the Bible teaching: ‘The man is to love, and the woman to submit’. These two complement each other and one cannot thrive without the other.

There three pillars of a strong family; the first is dialogue, the second is dialogue and the third is dialogue!

{Maurice Momanyi, Nairobi}

Some students from Masinde Muliro University, Sigalagala Polytechnic and Kibabii University College under the umbrella ‘I Choose Life’ have shown light to many students whom they reach through their outreach programmes which include skits, drama, plays, dances and other competitive games. The group spreads behaviour change messages on HIV/Aids, drug abuse, among others.

{Alex Wakhisi, Kakamega}