Don�t Rush Into Early Marriage

The youth have been told to avoid the mistake of rushing into early marriages when they are not fully ready to manage the inevitable challenges they would encounter. Renowned marriage counsellor, Opanin Kwadwo Kyere, said they should only go in when they were matured enough emotionally to face up squarely to all the circumstances that might rear its head later to disturb the bliss of the marriage. He said building relationships on sex could be dangerous to the health of the union and a potential recipe for distrust. Opanin Kyere was speaking at a public forum held in Kumasi to discuss ways of helping young couples to stay happily together and protect their marriages. The programme was organized by the Christian Community Microfinance Limited (CCML), a financial intermediary, and in attendance were church leaders and marriage counsellors. Opanin Kyere said it was important to assist married partners to appreciate that conflicts would be unavoidable and must be prepared to deal with these whenever they arose. This would require tolerance, mutual respect, the courage to forgive, learning to understand and to use complimentary words on each other. The other effective tool is to work things out spiritually through prayers �as marriage in itself is a spiritual warfare�. Opanin Kyere rallied couples to make the most of their relationships, whilst alive because there �is no marriage in Heaven�. Ms Vivian Asabea Ohene-Asare, the CCML Head of Customer Experience and Retention, said it was their contribution towards making families stable and prevent them from breaking up.