I have been getting to know what adverse environments look and feel like. More so, reflecting on the kind of environments I was raised in between years 2000 and 2010. Looking back I noticed alcoholism was a common thing, so was violence and children being kept from going to school.
Now that I'm older and more informed, I actually noticed the power dynamics. Whoever had the most money, whether real or perceived, had a say. Except, their words actually ruined or shaped the society in a profound way.
Unhealthy societies are like so by design. A story shocked our village back in central Kenya when the pastor who preached against fornication impregnated a 19 year old girl. The pastor was in his mid to late thirties. He would repeatedly visit this girl who had just joined a college in Nairobi.
His wife, on the other hand, she had no way of expressing her sadness and hurt from betrayal. She slowly withered away and ultimately refrained from going to church. As such losing her social support system because of the judgement passed by the same society.
This pastor was conveniently forgiven after his seniors "reprimanded" him. I wonder what message they were passing to the whole community. "It's okay to violate someone who's not at the same level of power. The church can forgive you." If that isn't a set up for the society to fail, I don't know what is.
It was not shocking to see youth pastors taking advantage of young girls. After all, it's God who forgives. Sexual violence became normalized, just like that.
Three markers of a fragmented society are:
1. People in power using their influence to sabotage the community.
2. Broken social networks. Which affects individuals, family and the whole society.
3. Normalized dysfunction. Such as sexual violence, denying children education, alcoholism, and poverty.
Here's a blog to help you get a fuller view of the societal fragmentation: https://growthcatalysts.org/20...munity-environments/
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