10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001 Attacks

For 102 minutes on September 11, 2001, the world looked on in horror as terrorists flew hijacked passenger planes into New York City's mighty twin towers, destroying the iconic buildings and killing more than 2,700 people. As the world commemorates the 10th year anniversary of the world's deadliest terrorist attacks, Timeless will like to hear your story. Where were you when it happened? What were you doing? What were your thoughts after? How did you feel about attacks? Send your comments to timelesscourage@yahoo.co.uk or post on our Facebook page  

TIMELESS EDITORIAL - Can Nigeria cure its Boko Haram disease?

The events of Tuesday June 16, 2011, when the Boko Haram sect of insurgents out of Borno State carried their war of attrition against the Nigerian state right inside the headquarters of the nation’s police force, have erased any doubt on the intractable nature of the security problem the band of Boko Haram guerrilla fighters poses.

Unless the matter gets the clinical attention it demands from the authorities, the disease may prove debilitating, rendering the state unable to attend to other even more pressing matters. In the end, it may eat so much into the fabric of state to unravel it.

Boko Haram is a security quandary for leadership at all levels; it highlights its abject failure. Whatever “concrete measures” have so far been taken “to nip it in the bud”, these must now be seen to have failed woefully; this calls for their thorough review.

The security challenges occasioned by the endless attacks by the group are bound to make the provenance state from where the disease broke out ungovernable; the whole Northeast region (particularly Borno, Bauchi, Kano and Gombe states) appears to be tottering on the brink of lawlessness.

Maiduguri is fast becoming another Somalia, where outlaw groups have taken over and where no government exists. So far, the impact and presence of government can only be felt on the streets of the capital city where armed soldiers who have failed to contain the killings and terror have allegedly made a hobby out of terrorising innocent residents in the name of perfunctory searches for members of the sect.

Sometimes, there are cases of alleged extortion perpetrated on the residents, where the economy has all but collapsed from the persistent onslaught by Boko Haram and resultant curfew imposition by government in response.

In the beginning, it was possible to keep count of the number of people killed; now, the heightened frequency of the killings has so shot up that accurate tally is being kept anymore.

The Boko Haram sect, who engaged security forces in a fire-fight in 2009 following sundry earlier skirmishes on the streets of Maiduguri, would probably have been successfully routed by now were it not for the extra-judicial killing of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, along with dozens of his followers. Perhaps part of the cure, if it is not too late to be effective, is the ongoing arraignment for their murder of two assistant commissioners of police along with 15 other police officers.

In line with this, the family of the 70-year-old Baba Fugu, the father in-law of the late Boko Haram leader, Muhammed Yusuf, ought to be treated with fairness in the matter of their suit in court challenging the old man’s murder by the police.

Whatever happened to the judgement of the court in their favour? Baba Fugu had reportedly presented himself to the state Police commissioner on being told that he was a wanted man. Instead of taking down his statement, the police took his life even though he was not known to have any relationship with the Boko Haram other than being Mr Yusuf’s father-in-law.

The history of Boko Haram is a testament to government’s inability to put in place effective measures for ensuring justice and egalitarianism. In the beginning, Muhammed Yusuf was reportedly encouraged and bankrolled by former Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff, who wanted to use the group’s numerical leverage for political gains. To this end, we are calling for Mr Sheriff to be compelled to appear for interrogation by the newly constituted commission of inquiry set up by the Federal Government.

It has been alleged that Boko Haram financier, the late Buji Foi (also summarily executed by the police), as Mr Sheriff’s commissioner of religious affairs, was possibly his stooge within the sect. Indeed, the extra-judicial killings have led to allegations that, given the haste with which they were carried out, certain persons along the corridors of power had something to hide.

The commission of inquiry set up by the federal government to investigate the uprising was said to have returned a verdict of guilty on former Governor Ali Sheriff and the then Commissioner of police. Why has government not made its content public? Can the Freedom of Information Act be invoked to make this happen?

Therefore, there is an urgent and compelling need to prosecute Mr Sheriff if indeed he is found guilty. In fact, his appearance and possible subsequent prosecution will go a long way in assuaging the truly hurt feelings of the Boko Haram sect. The question must be asked: Could there have been a pact between Mr Sheri ff and the group, which the former reneged on, which has left the sect enraged?
The security approach adopted by security agencies, notably the police, is not only faulty but dastardly. As a retired policeman in Maiduguri once told reporters, ‘’The moment a shooting takes place in any neighbourhood, Operation Flush operatives rush to the scene and round up young men and claim that they have arrested the culprits. How can any gunman who committed an act hang around the scene of the crime to be arrested just like that?”

As a result, many young men made scapegoats for the failure of the security agents to apprehend the real perpetrators of the killings end up radicalised. And so the Boko Haram cancer cells continue to ravage the body polity.

World marks Third Sickle Cell Day

41 years old TBoz, American singer and actress was a member of the popular and succesful 90s female music group TLC and is living with Sickle Cell Disorder. Initially withholding details of her ailment from others, TBoz (Tionne Tenese Watkins) went public with the disease in 1996 and is now a spokesperson for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. She has stated that her faith in God and her optimism has helped her stay free from the more serious effects of sickle cell disease.



On 22nd December, 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/63/L63 that recognises sickle cell disease as a public health problem. Among the objectives of the resolution is the celebration on 19th June of each year as a World-Day of Sickle Cell Disease. On June 19 2009, the first sickle cell disease awareness day was held at the UN headquarters organised by the International Organization for the Fight against Sickle Cell Disease (OILD/SCDIO) in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations (UN). Activities included a video report on sickle cell anaemia, testimonies stand, exhibition by patients' associations and international NGOs, an art exhibition on the disease, panels of discussion and round table, a First Ladies meeting and a gala dinner.

The World Sickle Cell day is celebrated across the globe with special emphasis in African nations and Asia. The celebrations include a press, media campaigns, music shows, cultural activities, and talk shows. Since no known cure exists for sickle cell disease, the main goal is to prevent further complications due to sickle cell disease. The main emphasis is hence on educating medical professionals, care givers, and associated personnel about prevention, research, and resources to minimize the complications due to sickle cell disease. Hence June 19th is devoted mainly to spread awareness, through talks, seminars, pamphlets, literature and consultations. Sunday June 19, 2011 marks the Third World Sickle Cell Day.

What is Sickle Cell Disease?Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry, but also occurs in other ethnic groups, including people who are of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent.

It affects haemoglobin, the protein found in red blood cells (RBCs) that help carry oxygen throughout the body. It occurs when a person inherits two abnormal genes (one from each parent) that cause their RBCs to change shape. Instead of being flexible and disc-shaped, these cells are more stiff and curved in the shape of the old farm tool known as a sickle — which is where the disease gets its name. The shape is similar to a crescent moon.

Common variants of the disease include SC, SD, SE, CE, Sβ thalassemia and SS. SS and SC are the most common in Nigeria.

Red blood cells with normal haemoglobin (haemoglobin A, or HbA) move easily through the bloodstream, delivering oxygen to all of the cells of the body. These are shaped like discs or doughnuts with the centres partially "scooped out" and are soft and flexible. They can easily "squeeze" through even very small blood vessels.

HbS molecules on the other hand tend to clump together, making red blood cells sticky, stiff, and more fragile, and causing them to form into a curved, sickle shape. Red blood cells containing HbS can go back and forth between being shaped normally and being sickle shaped until they eventually become sickle shaped permanently. Instead of moving through the bloodstream easily, these sickle cells can clog blood vessels and deprive the body's tissues and organs of the oxygen they need to stay healthy. Unlike normal RBCs that last about 4 months in the bloodstream, fragile sickle cells break down after only about 10 to 20 days, which usually causes anaemia. Anaemia is what happens when the body's number of red blood cells (or amount of haemoglobin) falls below normal. People who are anaemic often feel weak, tire more easily, and may appear "run down."

Signs and SymptomsThe symptoms of SCD follow a general pattern, which includes predominantly jaundice and anaemia characterized by erythroid hyperplasia. Other very common symptoms of sickle cell anaemia based on organ damage are characterized by: painful crises, stroke, paralysis, avascular necrosis of the femoral head, loss of splenic function and pulmonary hypertension. Painful crisis can occur in the chest, stomach, arms, legs, or other parts of the body. This is caused by sickle cells blocking blood flow through the blood vessels in those areas.

People with sickle cell anaemia can also experience complications from impaired blood circulation and infection-fighting problems. These include a higher risk of certain infections as well as a condition called acute chest syndrome, which is caused by inflammation or trapped RBCs in the lungs. Sickle cell anaemia is not contagious, so you can't catch it from someone else or pass it to another person like a cold or an infection.

A child who has inherited the sickle cell gene from only one parent will not develop the disease, but will have sickle cell trait (these are people with the AS or AC genotypes.) People who have sickle cell trait don't have sickle cell anaemia or symptoms of the disease, but they can pass the sickle cell gene on to their own children. Because people with sickle cell trait don't have the disease, they may never discover that they carry the gene. That's why it's recommended that people who are unsure of their genotype status ask their doctors about testing.

The periods of pain commonly referred to as pain crises, vary in their severity, how often they happen, and how long they last. Whereas one person may have only one sickle cell pain crisis a year, another may experience them more often. Crises may be brief, or may last hours, days, or even weeks.

What Can Doctors Do?To diagnose sickle cell anaemia, doctors use a special blood test called haemoglobin electrophoresis to look for HbS in a person's blood. There is no cure for sickle cell anaemia, and it is possible for some people to be ill enough to die from the disease. Doctors can provide treatments that help prevent complications from the disease, though. Folic acid, a vitamin that helps the body produce new red blood cells, is often prescribed for people with sickle cell anaemia. Pain medications help relieve the symptoms of crises.

Some crises can be managed at home with pain medicines, rest, and extra fluids. But if a crisis is especially intense, one may need to go to the hospital for intravenous (IV) fluids and stronger pain medications. People with sickle cell anaemia may also use oxygen to help ease symptoms during a crisis or an episode of acute chest syndrome. People with sickle cell anaemia may need to get transfusions of healthy red blood cells to help carry oxygen to the tissues of their bodies more effectively, and some may need many transfusions on a regular basis. Several new treatments have helped reduce painful crises and episodes of acute chest syndrome in adults with the condition. These drugs have also decreased the need for hospitalisation.

What Can Patients Do?With the right precautions, people with sickle cell disease can do most of the stuff other people do. To stay as healthy as possible, they should take these steps:
• Eat a balanced, healthy diet.
• Take vitamins, including folic acid supplements, as prescribed. They should however
avoid iron supplements. 
• Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.
• Avoid extreme cold or heat.
• Exercise regularly, but in moderation. Exercise is important for staying healthy, but
overdoing it can trigger a crisis in some people, particularly if they become dehydrated,
overheated, or exhausted.
• Get plenty of rest.
• Avoid alcohol, drugs, and smoking, which can aggravate sickle cell disease and its
symptoms. Some people with sickle cell disease are prone to lung problems, so smoking
is particularly risky and must be avoided.
• Avoid places low in oxygen. (For example, it's not a good idea to go hiking at high
altitudes or spend lots of time swimming under water or in the air in planes.)
• Prevent serious infections by contacting your doctor as soon as illness symptoms start. Be
sure to get any immunisations (such as pneumonia and flu vaccines) that the doctor recommends, and always call your doctor if you have a high fever (over 101° Fahrenheit).
• Learn as much as you can about the disease and see your doctor regularly to help prevent
complications.

People with sickle cell disease may need to put some limits on their lives, but with the help of doctors, friends, and family, they can manage the condition and live their lives to the fullest.

Over 5 million people are known to be afflicted by the Sickle Cell Disease in Nigeria. Sickle-cell anaemia contributes the equivalent of 5% of under-five deaths on the African continent, and up to 16% of under-five deaths in individual West African countries (WHO, 2006). The statistic in Nigeria though revealing may be even more due to unavailability of adequate statistics in a nation like ours. While an average of 150,000 babies are born annually with the disorder, only 25% of them might make it to their 5th birthday. It’s important to note that Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa accounts for three quarters of the populations living with SCD. It is therefore imperative, that we consider the alarming rate at which the population of those living with SCD is increasing.
People living with SCD, apart from the painful crises may experience depression, low self esteem and stigmatisation. Parents abandon children, marriages are destroyed, relationships are broken, those employable are stigmatised all as a result of SCD. Statistics predicts that by the year 2015, if care is not taken, the population of people living with SCD would have hit 40 million. It is not uncommon to have people tag the disease ignorantly as a death sentence.

Nigeria being a vast country and as a result of inadequate health information, basic elements of knowledge and information have been reduced to a minute percentage of the populace, thereby rendering the majority of the population ignorant. Counselling, research and management of the disease is also severely limited. The deficiency of genotype awareness and testing, inadequate understanding of basic management needs; poor health care and treatment in our hospitals has further created an abyss in solving the problems associated with SCD.

In Nigeria, the medical management of the sickle cell anaemia is achieved by the administration of some routine drugs which have been shown to be able to improve the quality of life of the patients. Apart from Folic Acid as mentioned above, other commonly prescribed drugs for sickle cell anaemia in Nigeria include anti-sickling agents like: Niprisan, Ciklavit and pain medications, which could include but not limited to; Paracetamol, Aspirin, Feldene, to stronger medications like Morphine, Fortrin, Buscopan depending on the physicians prescription. Several Nigerian families and caretakers of SCD patients have resorted to untested herbal and unreliable drug options to get by which are much cheaper than medically clinically tested drug solutions.  

More specifically, people in the lower strata of the society do not have easy access or funding towards proper treatment. In Nigeria the poverty rate stands at about 50-60% (World Bank report 2006). However, the average cost of medication on a monthly basis for the effective management in a person living with SCD is about $60. This places most Nigerian families at a disadvantage in being able to purchase the basic drugs. There is therefore an urgent need to facilitate proper medical care through drug provisions at subsidised rates to provide a healthy and enabling environment for their survival. Continuous awareness must also be maintained through the mass media, the various Sickle Cell Clubs across the country, NGOs and religious organisations. Funding for research into viable treatment procedures and drugs must be made available for our research institutes, teaching hospitals and universities. Regular seminars should also be organised for General Medical practitioners to update their knowledge on the disease.    

Movie Review - “KJB - The Book that Changed the World”

Title: “KJB - The Book that Changed the World”

Genre: Culture & Society

Release Date: April, 2011

Studio: Lionsgate

Format: DVD

Ages: 12+

Review by Mainasara

“KJB - The Book that Changed the World” is a 90-minute Drama Documentary about the translation of the King James Bible. Narrator John Rhys-Davies leads us back, through landmarks and relics, into a darker time to discover and savour a tale of saints and sinners, power and passion. The greatest translation of the Bible ever, it burst onto the stage to upstage things in a world and culture that would never remain the same again.

According to Christiancinema.com, “This fantastic DVD features great cinematography, shots inside beautiful churches and in the country, re-enactments of events of the sixteenth century, a remarkable host in John Rhys-Davies with his booming voice, and the scholarly mini-lectures of expert scholars. This intriguing documentary will inform and educate and each viewer will have a whole new appreciation of the King James Bible after viewing it.”

There is simply so much history to learn here: the events leading up to the crowning of King James; various events of the time (rendered by expert scholars such as Dr. William Storrar, Professor Carl Trueman, Dr. Ashley Null, Professor William G. Naphy and others); about King James, the man who believed God guided him and who was born a Catholic but became a Protestant; the background of the making and printing of the Bible, as well as the story of a schism which nearly resulted in the loss of lives.

The screenplay was written by Norman Stone (who is also director and producer) and Murray Watts. The film premiered in November 2010. John Rhys-Davies (known best for his role as Gimli the Dwarf in the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy and in “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”) is the narrator of the docudrama. King James was played by Andrew Rothney, outstanding in a play adaptation of one of the oldest pieces of literature in known existence, the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, a 4,000-year old Sumerian tale.

“KJB - The Book that Changed the World” is a fantastically beautiful and excellent film which demonstrates, in vivid Technicolor, the credibility and integrity of the Bible as the record of the veritable word of the God of the Judeo-Christian revelation.

EDITORIAL - Our debt to King James Bible at 400

Indeed, it is as British politician, historian, and writer, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 - 59), said: “[This] English Bible [is] a book which, if everything else in our language should perish, would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.”

Owing to a mix of factors, King James I convened a conference at Hampton Court in 1604, where the decision was made to commission an entirely new translation, to take into account more available manuscripts and increased scholarship over the years. Since it derived its authority from the king, it would be known as the Authorised Version.

The king approved a body of 54 scholars (seven did not make it to the end), divided into six committees. The work took off fully in 1607, with a first draft out by 1609. Redrafted the following year, it was finally completed for publication on May 2, 1611.

Ever since, no translation has commanded attention as the King James Version (popularly known as the KJV) Bible. Further, no other has enjoyed patronage as much as the King James Bible.

Not many people know that the KJV is 400 years old this year; even fewer of the 1.5 billion speakers and users of English worldwide care to ever acknowledge its impact on the language. It stands to ponder that not a few English translations of other holy books, although done much after it, have a propensity to get rendered in the old-fashioned phraseology of the King James Bible.

To quote the Encyclopaedia Encarta, “The outstanding prose works of the Renaissance are not so numerous as those of later ages, but the great translation of the Bible, called the King James Bible, or Authorized Version...is significant because it was the culmination of two centuries of effort to produce the best English translation of the original texts, and also because its vocabulary, imagery, and rhythms have influenced writers of English in all lands ever since.

“The KJV of 1611 became an enduring work in an age when religion mattered to almost everyone in a way that is difficult to appreciate today. It influenced their lives, their attitudes, their actions – from the highest in the land to the lowliest man or woman.

“It had an enormous effect on peoples’ lives. Its language and terminology may seem archaic today but it was the everyday parlance of ordinary people and its language became entwined into English literature over many generations, not just in England but wherever the Bible was carried into what has become the English-speaking world today.”

There is no gainsaying the fact that the King James Bible has shaped the English language like nothing else before or after it. Its passages have been the portions (and sometimes even potions) that have kept political and religious fervour going.

From the adulatory addiction of the ‘KJV-only’ reactionary movement within Christendom, to the nonetheless appreciative avant-garde preachers and teachers of the Bible who are also open to the slew of new successor translations of the Good Book, the King James Bible evokes something close to reverence.

It has come down imbued with a larger-than-life image – a mirror that pans back-and-forth between our origins in the misty past and our moorings in the clamorous present.

Much of the phraseology that undergirds the English language has come down to us from the first day of the King James Bible. Examples abound: ‘A thorn in the flesh’; ‘Labour of love’; ‘Physician, heal thyself’; ‘The apple of my eye’; ‘Widow’s mite’; ‘A thorn in the flesh’; ‘In the twinkling of an eye’; ‘New wine in old wineskin’, and ‘Thy brother’s keeper’.

We can relate to the words of US President Ronald Reagan: “It is my understanding that the Bible...has been the bestselling book in the entire history of printing.” Yet activities to make an important milestone as the 400^th anniversary of the watershed event of the issuing of the KJV remain scant and far in between, particularly in Africa.

It would not be out of place to stage many such events as one planned but not much publicised: the series of commemorative events planned by the West African Theological Seminary (WATS) and the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), as conferences and exhibitions, across Nigeria in June and November, and in select capitals in West Africa in September.

In an era of phenomenal mass failure in English examinations in Nigeria, at all levels really, a throwback to the roots of the language as codified in the King James Bible, as lessons drawn out of the rigour of its development, should prove worthwhile as a radical solution to the malaise. 

Generation Y - and how they are changing the world

By Ayodeji Jeremiah


Most of us have probably heard of the term ‘Baby Boomers’. Some of us will probably also have heard of the term ‘Generation X’ and ‘Generation Y’. These terms refer to cultural generations – groups of people born in the same date range who share similar cultural experiences. Auguste Comte, a French philosopher was the first person to make a serious attempt at studying generations in this context. He suggested that social change is determined by generational change. Karl Mannheim, a Jewish Hungarian sociologist also did seminal work in the study of generations. Mannheim emphasised that the rapidity of social change in youth was crucial to the formation of generations, and that not every generation would come to see itself as distinct. In periods of rapid social change a generation would be much more likely to develop a cohesive character, he concluded. He also believed that a number of distinct sub-generations could exist. Jose Ortega Gassett, a Spanish philosopher was another influential generational theorist of the 20th century. These along with American authors William Strauss and Neil Howe have been very influential in defining the concept of generations. Strauss and Howe’s book, ‘Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069’ is frequently cited in books and articles on the subject. While this concept of generations as we know it is very common and more popular amongst Americans; the study of its influence and importance cannot be overemphasised as it permeates to other societies overwhelmingly albeit with different outcomes and consequences.   

Since the advent of the ‘Baby Boomers’, (probably the most influential and largest generational group to date) no other generation has had as much impact on social, political, economic and religious change as much as the focus of this article, ‘the Gen Yers’ as they are also called. Before we look at their influence however, it is important we know who they are. Doing that entails we know those before them.

Experiences that occur during the formative childhood and teenage years create and define differences between the generations. These social markers create the paradigms through which the world is viewed and decisions are made. Baby Boomers were influenced by the advent of the TV, Rock and Roll, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the threat of nuclear war, and the decimal currency. Gen Xers saw in the Personal Computer, AIDS, single parent families, the growth in multiculturalism, and the downsizing of companies. Generation Y’s have lived through the age of the internet, cable television, globalisation, September 11, and environmentalism. Such shared experiences during one’s youth unite and shape a generation. There is an ancient saying that bears much truth: “People resemble their times more than they resemble their parents”.

The Baby Boomers refers to the generation of children born between 1946 after World War 2 and the early 1960s. Across the world, it was the largest demographic group (now being replaced presently as the largest by Generation Y). The name stems from the increase in birth rates seen across the world after the war due to increasing peace and prosperity. This group that grew up in a time of affluence came to define the 60s and 70s (just like the Gen Yers are now defining the 2000s).

Generation X refers to those who were born between 1965 and mid to late 70s (1976-1979.) Many grew up as "latch key" kids, home alone after school while both of their parents worked, and/or they were raised by a single parent. They saw their parents married to the workplace, often devoting long hours to factories, the office or on the road. Their parents sacrificed time at home with their families. This group is often perceived as the most ignored, underappreciated and overlooked of the more recent generations. It is also the smallest in number of all the generations. Their contributions were largely in the development of Internet and communications platforms, which the Gen Yers are now putting to use massively.  

Generation Y, the subject of our piece (also called Millennials, Generation Next or Echo Boomers) refers to those roughly born between 1980 and 2000 (the offspring of the famous baby boomers.) Characteristics of the generation vary by region, depending on social and economic conditions. However, it is generally marked by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies. In most parts of the world its upbringing was marked by an increase in a neoliberal approach to politics and economics. Members of the group expect entertaining and fast-paced information and are assumed to be self-centred, demanding, and hard to integrate into teams. They are also more environmentally aware taking the initiative to go green as they now say at every opportunity. They are awash with choices, from buying an individual song on iTunes instead of a whole prepackaged album to not three major TV networks but 200-plus cable channels, covering a spectrum of interests. Rather than buying Wall Street Journal or New York Times (in the US) or the Guardian or Times (in the UK) or Thisday or Guardian (in Nigeria); they have access to hundreds of blogs and websites where they can get their news from. These set of people don’t have to memorise anything as all they have to do is ‘Google it’. How this will influence learning and knowledge remain subjects of various theses in colleges across the world.    

As they grow up, leave school and enter the workforce, they are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Also, as they become politically aware, they are leveraging their use of digital technology and the new social networks to force political changes as witnessed recently across North Africa and the Middle East. In a recent Newsweek survey, members of this group account for between 35% (and in some countries) as much as 60% of the population especially in Africa, the Middle East, India, and South America. These regions are political and economic hotbeds that are just experiencing an awakening. Economic growth in these regions are growing at an astonishing pace (between 4 and 10%) leaving the US, Western Europe and Japan in the dust but with only few of the populace enjoying the fruits of such growth. Even Nigeria is experiencing GDP growth of 7-8% compared with 2-4% for the US and most European countries. With access (sometimes restricted) to Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube, the Gen Yers in these regions are seeing their counterparts experience economic prosperity, being able to change their governments every four or five years, having unrestricted access to digital media and technologies and wondering why they too can’t experience the same. Not unlike most of their parents who took part in the political tumult of the 60s, they too are partaking directly and indirectly in changing political destinies across the world.

While due to cultural differences across regions, a Gen Y in the US might not necessarily behave the same way as a Gen Y in Nigeria or the one in Nigeria might not necessarily behave the same way as one in China; most Gen Yers across the world however share similar traits and characteristics that are forcing changes in the way we conduct business, the way we market products, the way we advertise, the way we employ people, the way we conduct elections and even forcing legislations in some societies to favour erstwhile socially awkward and unacceptable behaviours. This same generation is also forcing changes even in the way we worship God.

While most Gen Yers believe in ‘a God’, they view organised religion as a source of intolerance and a nuisance. While most pray and read religious manuals or books, they do not attend regular religious services and tend not to identify themselves with a particular religious group. Most will even describe themselves as ‘spiritual’ and not ‘religious’ to emphasize their stand as far as God is concerned. While churches in Europe are closing down, unable to cope with these changes, those in the US and Africa are using music, drama, the ‘mega church’ concept and community organising/work to keep members of this generation in church. Members of this group do not want to worship in your small town church, they like unconventional music and drama to go along with the sermon and they want their church to get involved in social mobilization and community work. 

Gen Yers also tend to be more liberal on issues of sex. Even in conservative societies like Africa’s, members of this group tend to frown less on homosexuality seeing sexual orientation not as a choice but more like age and sex, (things you don’t have a choice over). This has led to seismic shifts in the way homosexuality is viewed by society with laws now being made to legalise, cater for and protect so called same sex marriages. They also tend to have sex earlier being earlier exposed to the technicalities of sex and being also better informed. Despite their sexual awareness, they are also acutely aware of the dangers of AIDs and other STDs and take precautions concerning these.

This group tends to be more peer oriented. The rise of instant communication technologies such as email, texting, and IM and new media through websites like YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, explains the Gen Yers reputation for being somewhat peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication through technology. This has also changed the face of advertising as advertisers now use targeted advertising to get across to members of this group. Most members of this group are more likely to make a purchase (of a product or service) if their peers have done so and are also likely to not to make a purchase if their peers makes a negative review about such. 7-9 of every 10 amongst this group owns a cell phone (probably a Blackberry or another smartphone) and a computer. Even in low income societies and amongst low income groups, acquisition of a cell phone or a computer is not seen as a luxury but a necessity. This has led to financial institutions and schools partnering together to offer schemes that make it easier for members of this group to acquire such. Cell phone makers are cashing in on this churning out smartphones (phones with Internet and Social Networking capabilities) at an alarming rate. The rise of mobile social networking and instant messaging and email is also placing a demand on the attention spans and tasking abilities of this group. There is that urge to check every Facebook post, every chat, every IM and every mail as they come in and also reply immediately. 70% of all text messages are sent by members of this group. Members of this group view themselves as being excellent multi-taskers but recent research suggests that from being far from the truth. Research from Temple University’s Centre for Neural Decision Making suggests that this addiction to information and addiction to incoming tweets and texts leads to objectively poorer decision making. The research showed that people faced with a plethora of information are apt to be poor at making choices and poor ones at that.      
Politically, members of this group want change and results fast. They get quickly disillusioned if things don’t go their way and if their anointed candidate doesn’t deliver on time. Members of this group vaulted Barack Obama into office in the US in the 2008 elections but were nowhere to be found during the 2010 US midterm elections when the Republicans won over the Congress. They have also been responsible for the fall of the governments in Egypt and Tunisia and forced changes in Yemen, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, but after forcing these changes will they be available to provide support and ideas for the new leadership in these places. Again, as with other areas of their lives, they want microwave solutions – fast, ready and instant. The patience to work things out long term is usually absent and politicians will do well to learn these facts and know how to harness them in cultivating this group of people. 

In the business world and workplace, managing Gen Yer has become one of the hottest topics among HR consultants and business managers. Across the workplace, they are seen as being lazy not willing to work long hours. They have learnt the importance of balancing work and life from their overworked ‘Baby Boomer’ parents. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life. They aim to work faster and better than other workers and are not prone to meetings. They want to hold only ‘productive’ meetings. They want to make an important impact on their first day at work and want to be given direct ownership of tasks and responsibilities with less hierarchical organisational structure. They believe in their own self-worth and are high maintenance workers. They change careers faster than college students change their majors, creating frustration for employers struggling to retain and recruit talented high-performers. "Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York, US. "They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.'" They are very independent and place a great deal of demand on their employers. They want jobs with flexibility, telecommuting or work from home options and the ability to go part time or leave the workforce temporarily when children are in the picture. Generation Yers don't expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long, they're sceptical when it comes to such concepts as employee loyalty. In the workplace, conflict and resentment can arise over a host of issues, even seemingly innocuous subjects such as appearance, as a generation used to casual fare such as flip-flops, tattoos and capri pants finds more traditional attire is required at the office. Conflict can also flare up over management style. Unlike previous generations who've in large part grown accustomed to the annual review, Gen Yers have grown up getting constant feedback and recognition from teachers, parents and coaches and can resent it or feel lost if communication from bosses isn't more regular.   

By understanding what today’s youth most value, we can determine how to most effectively engage them. Even if many chose to reject these values however they are still culturally dominant. The values in vogue today are as follows:

Relational Connection
Gen Y is seeking after more than just friendships. They want community: to be understood, accepted, respected, and included. Research from the Australian Leadership Foundation shows that while they spend most of their spare time with their peers, they often fail to experience real unconditional love, and connection when with them. Above all else, they wish for “a happy relationship” and “a loving family”. A stereotype is that this generation has no loyalty however they do demonstrate strong loyalty to their friends. They work hard to live up to what their peers expect of them, and their self-esteem often rests on how well regarded they are in their group or sub-culture.

Bigger Meaning
This generation has observed their parents get the rewards of hard work: houses, cars, and material wealth. Gen Y has benefited from this being the most materially endowed, and entertained generation of teenagers ever. Yet they have seen the costs of their parents’ success in terms of broken marriages, absentee parenting, and an epidemic of stress related illnesses. For their part Gen Y have been left disillusioned with the materialism they have enjoyed and boredom remains a big problem for them (57% state that “never being bored” is of highest importance to them). Therefore they are looking for more than just continuing the consumerism experiment. Indeed when deciding to accept a job, salary ranks sixth in order of importance after training, management style, work flexibility, staff activities, and non-financial rewards. For the young people of this generation, a job merely provides the income to do what they want to do. They are on a search for fun, for quality friendships, and for a fulfilling purpose. There are more voices than ever trying to win over a cause-seeking generation. Whether it is environmentalism, social issues, human rights, or volunteering, they are getting increasingly involved.

Trusted Guidance
Research again shows that the one of the strongest felt need amongst Gen Y is for guidance or direction in their life that is trustworthy. There is much advice on offer but not much of it is believed by this sceptical generation, and rightly so. By the age of 18, the average young person has viewed over 500,000 TV commercials, in addition to countless Internet, radio, and outdoor ads, much of which is pure hype. This generation is hammered with hype and has the hype radar up screening out most messages. This generation wants guidance in the form of a navigator, not a street directory. Our society is full of proverbial street directories, which show the way to financial, relationship, or life success. However most Gen Y’s are unsure of where they are now, let alone where they are going, and so they are seeking specific direction from someone who knows them, their situation, and has even travelled that way themselves. They are looking for real life role models and mentors who not only know the way, but also go the way, and can show the way.

Understanding Generation Y is important for all of us whether we are involved in educating youth, or in a leadership role in the workplace or a spiritual based organisation. A quality outcome is dependent on our understanding of them. Once we have a foundational grasp of their characteristics, communication styles, and social attitudes, we will be well equipped to effectively impact this enormous and emerging generation. Before too long they will be the bosses and will be taking over the world.

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