John ‘Dare Okafor, in addressing new volunteers with Boys Without Borders – a boy child organisation created to stand in advocacy, orientation and sensitisation of the boy-child – said that the initiative is not just an organization but a movement that is bigger than anyone, even the founders.
The founder said this while briefing the new volunteers on why they were selected and what is required of them. Boys Without Borders welcomed 20 new volunteers to the organization at the Official Onboarding Ceremony which was held on Friday, 3 September 2021, at the Students’ Representative Council Chambers, Students’ Union Building.
The event started ten minutes after 3 p.m., with an introduction of new volunteers to other members present, and it further dived into the story of how the organization came to be, which was taken by the co-founder, Mr. Solomon Idowu. During the event, there was a recruitment report on how in 2020, 46 people applied into the organization, 30 people took the assessment test, and 24 people were eventually selected. Two years into its existence, the organization saw 64 people apply at its last recruitment process, 25 of which took the assessment test within a 24-hour window. In the end, only 20 people made it to become members of the organisation.
The crux of the event was the onboarding speech by Mr. John ‘Dare Okafor, the co-founder of the organization. He began his speech with a boychild rape story which was gotten from the archives of ProjectBoysTalkAboutIt, which was held in 2020. In his speech, he said, “the boychild has subconsciously been positioned as a “danger” the society now shields the female gender from, due to the anomalies that have been associated to him over the years.”
He further said that in the last 10 years, the focus has primarily shifted to the girlchild, and the boy child is now in danger of losing value. The speech was rounded off with the co-founder talking about the importance of volunteering, commitment and responsibilities.
The onboarding ceremony ended with a game and interactive session few minutes after 5 p.m.
