Jane and Finch community celebrates Journey to Manhood; a Rite of Passage Ceremony

BY PAUL JUNOR

On Saturday July 13^th, 2024, seven boys of African descent in the Jane-Finch community were the celebrants in a rite of passage ceremony. They had reached the 13^th milestone on the journey from boyhood to manhood. The ceremony was to celebrate, publicly acknowledge, and affirm that these boys are on the way to becoming men. Also, the ceremony was to encourage each one to start acting more as a man than as a child. The expectation is that each one will become a mature godly man marked by 4 Rs:

• Respected: A man is looked up to due to his character qualities
• Responsible: A man steps up to his duty as a leader, provider and protector
• Resolute: A man stands up for what is right in spite of the consequence
• Resilient: A man bounces back up after setbacks and failures

The boys are members of the Hoop2Hope (H2H) program. H2H utilizes the popular sport of basketball to reach junior boys (grades 3-8) and senior boys (grades 9 and up). There is another rite of passage ceremony for the young men who reach the 18^th milestone. This age is of special significance in the Jane and Finch area as considering that the life expectancy is not high for some youths in the community.

Sky Starr, pastor and grief counsellor in Jane-Finch, in her book, Fractured Communities, with the subtitle, Dissecting the Ripple Effects of Gun Violence, wrote, “It is not uncommon for youth to express the woeful desire to ‘see their eighteenth birthday.” After the death of two teenage boys in the community in the summer of 2013, the Toronto Star quoted this tweet from a boy, “God let me live to see my 17^th birthday.”

The coming-of-age celebrations are vital for these young men on many levels. It is integral to their development of selfhood, identity formation, and maturity. The printed program elaborates, “The journey is challenging, and it can be confusing for a boy. Left to themselves, some boys will self-initiate, or turn to peers to be initiated into manhood.”

The ceremony started with a procession of the boys with their parents. Reverend Audley Goulbourne who pastored Lisle Memorial Baptist Church from 1987 to 2022 and was instrumental in the launch of the rite of passage ceremony gave the opening remarks. He began with showing the short video, ‘Elephant Adolescent Gone Wild’ that showed young elephants attacking and killing rhinoceros which does not happen under normal circumstances. The problem was addressed when older male elephants were placed in the park to exercise control.

Within the past three weeks in Toronto, we have had incidents of boys going wild. In two separate occasions two 14-year-olds have been charged with murder. Rev. Goulbourne highlighted why boys need older men to guide them to be constructive members in the community. Thus, the importance of the H2H program with the rite of passage ceremony.

The charge was given by PC Geoff Kerr of the Toronto Police Services (TPS). As a Jamaican-born immigrant, he knows first-hand the challenges of growing up in a female-headed household and rising above the stigma of the Jane-Finch community. He delivered a message of perseverance, resilience and setting high goals. In addition, there were words of wisdom shared by other older men in the audience.

Each boy brought a toy, or a book that was from their childhood days that was exchanged for a Bible. The significance of this exchange was to highlight that the Bible was to be valued as an indispensable light for the journey. The parents along with all the men present gathered around the boys, then the prayer of blessing was offered for each one by Benjamin Osei. He was a refugee from Ghana, who became a dedicated community youth worker including directing H2H.for the past 20 years. The ceremony concluded with the recessional followed by the cutting of the special cake and the serving of refreshments.

I spoke to Rev. Goulbourne on Wednesday, July 17^th, 2024, regarding the history of the rite of passage ceremony. He shared that his father was not intentional in preparing him for manhood that culminated with a rite of passage ceremony. He had to declare himself to be a man after he overcame a frightening experience at age 18. When his first son, Matthew was born he vowed to do better in preparing him for manhood. In 2003 he had a rite of passage ceremony for him when he turned 16. When he turned 18 there was a subsequent one for him and his peers. Since then, he has been having ceremonies for his two other sons, for boys in the Hoop2Hope program and in the church.

Rev. Goulbourne is on a mission to encourage fathers and other men to be intentionally engaged in guiding boys so that they do not stumble, but confidentially step into manhood. He believes that as more 4R men are nurtured there will be healthier, thriving families resulting in a healthy, thriving Black community.

HOPE for You Community Services (H4U) is a sponsor of the program. The acronym HOPE stands for “Holistic Outreach Promoting Empowerment.” H4U was launched in 2016. The other sponsor of the program is Youth Unlimited (Toronto Youth for Christ) serving youths in the GTA since 1962.