SEVERAL hundred men are expected to converge on the Emancipation Park in Kingston tomorrow for the staging of a men’s rally, being held to develop the image of Jamaican males and encourage them to restore their roles as fathers.

The rally, being hosted by Hope 2007 and the Errol Rattray Evangelistic Association, will be presented under the theme ‘Man with a Purpose’ and will feature presentations on the topics ‘The importance of fatherhood’, ‘Man as a leader’ and ‘Man with a purpose’.

Rattray, chairman of Hope 2007, said given that 70 per cent of inmates in the nation’s prisons are males and majority of Jamaican boys are being trained and raised by women, it had become important to stage this event at this time.

“Most of our boys are being trained by women in our high schools, in our Sunday Schools and most of the parents taking care of our children in the homes are women,” he said.

He is hoping that the rally will help change the mindset of the men to push them in a more responsive mode.

“We want to say if you are a man you are to be a responsible man and one of the responsibilities is to take care of your family,” he said.

Rattray said that because of the missing father in a woman’s life, it sometimes affects even the choice they make in relationships, causing many to end up in abusive situations.

The rally, he said, was not only open to men, but women as well, and he expressed amazement at how involved women have been in actively inviting men to participate.

During the rally, Rattray said, men will be asked to declare how they could make the country a safe place for women and children.