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WE live in very challenging times where guaranteeing the safety of children is proving to be quite a challenge in our communities.
Children are generally adventurous and quite an inquisitive lot.
They are likely to go even where they have been repeatedly warned against setting foot. Such is the nature of children.
However, that just about sums up the joys and pains of parenting in this age when you may never know the true character of your neighbour, let alone a stranger in the street.
Just recently we carried an article that said it had been found that most sexual abuse victims knew their abusers.
This means that we should always be on the lookout for close friends and relatives as these are potential abusers.
Elsewhere in this edition we carry an article of a security guard at a primary school who allegedly subjected at least three young girls to indecent assault in the school toilet, by allegedly ordering them to lie down before she stretched their labia saying that was the “normal thing to do” for every woman.
The woman has, however, denied the accusations and her case continues in the courts.
However, the case shows how children could be at the mercy of criminals even within the school environment.
The case shows the many loopholes that exist within the school environment. We have also heard accusations at some schools that teachers were initiating children into satanism, while at some teachers have been accused of abusing children by turning them into vendors of their different wares within school premises.
It is important for adults to set a good example before the young ones so that they emulate the correct and noble things. Failure to do that will see the children being led astray.
Also in this issue there is a story of a young boy that sodomised two minors on separate occasions after luring them from their playmates.
What is clear is that these minors were known to the boy hence would not have suspected anything bad could befall them in his presence.
It is worrying that upon sentencing the boy said he sodomised the younger boys as he was imitating what he saw on a video in his brother’s phone.
What other bad examples are we setting for our children, who are the future parents?
And how are we protecting this future generation from all forms of abuse?
Let us be alert always and ensure that our children are encouraged to report any suspicious touching, especially of private areas, whether by strangers or close relatives.
Our challenging times call for unconventional measures to stem the tide of abuse.
And please, let us not protect abusers, even if they are family. They belong in prison.
Online Reporter