The community into which we are all born is the family. Our family is the foundation on which all wider communities are built, whether they be political, social or religious. "Unless this foundation is strong, the house will fall!"

The family is at the heart of the community. Without the family, there can be no community. Without unity in the family, there can be no lasting unity in the community. Without love in the family, there can be no real love in the community.

It is the family that transmits life. It is in the family that we first learn to relate to other human beings, to develop a sense of obedience to authority, a sense of responsibility and a sense of sharing with others. It is in the family that we first discover the real meaning of love, mutual concern, dedicated service to others, shelter, nourishment and refuge.

It is the family that preserves and passes on our good traditions and proper attitudes in life. It is the family that forms the members of tomorrow's community. In this it draws on all the spiritual help God offers it through religion.

The family is the child's first school. His teachers are his parents. It is they who have the God-given right to educate their children and they should continue our African tradition of giving proper education within the family. This right over the education of their children remains even when they do to school. No institutional system of education can take that right away from them because parents retain the right to determine the kind of education their children shall receive and they should speak out if that right is trampled upon. They should take an active interest in the kind of educational programme their children receive and have frequent dialogue with the teachers who are taking their place in the formal education of their children. They must always retain their basic responsibility for the continued formation of their children, even when these children acquire a higher academic standard than themselves. They should never permit themselves to get into a position where they fear their own children, nor have to shake their heads and say: "These modern children!"

Steps to avoid getting into such a position start in the child's early days at home in the family. It is there that the child should learn to love and respect the parents and be attracted to develop a relationship with them that grows stronger as the years increase.

To develop such a relationship, however, the child needs the right atmosphere at home. This atmosphere should be peaceful, understanding, forgiving, loving and caring.

Families at home should strengthen our African tradition of togetherness. They should never be almost strangers to one another. They should share their meals, time and concerns with one another in the family. They should pray together, read their Holy Book together, spend most of their evenings together and enjoy one another's company together. Our traditional togetherness should be brought with us into the complexities of modern life.

To retain this togetherness, we must renew our family commitment. Parents must be totally committed to one another and never permit a third party to take part of that commitment away. Both parents must be fully committed to the temporal, psychological and spiritual needs of their children. The children, in return, should be committed to one another and to their parents, even those parents grow old. Their commitment should also flow over to the community, especially through encouragement given to them by the family to respond generously to any call they may later receive to serve the community. Commitment acquired within the family is, in fact, the foundation for commitment to the community.

That is why we maintain that anything that threatens the well being of the family is a threat to the well being of the community. Broken families lead to a broken community. Any exaggerated independence within the family results in exaggerated independence within the community. Any husband or wife who puts a career before family obligations, weakens the foundation of the community. Any member of the community, who looks for offspring outside a permanent family life, denies the community the natural formation of its future members. Any legislation that permits a direct attack upon the life of an unborn member of the community, oversteps the boundaries of human law and offends God Who gave life to that child. Any foreign country or organization that demands dissemination of unnatural methods of family planning as a condition for financial aid is guilty of exploitation in its worst form and any one of our Eastern Africa countries that accepts such conditions degrades our African traditions and our valued independence.

Our local communities should not wait until its leaders meet and speak out on such issues. They should take the proper initiatives whenever they see any threat to the family or its members. But the role of the community goes beyond responding to threats on the family. It should take a positive approach to family life. It should bring parents together to discuss their responsibilities in the family and do all it can to strengthen family life and to insure that all members receive a proper formation within the family. The community can never consider itself something totally different from the family, since it is composed of families. Its well being depends on the well being of families because the attitudes and values received within the family become the attitudes and values of the community.

23rd July 1976
Nairobi, Kenya

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