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The welfare of children is something that should ever be uppermost in our minds regardless of our circumstances.
We cannot afford to sacrifice childrena��s welfare for anything. Children are a product of relationships, which vary in nature, scope, length and depth of passion.
What we are emphasising is that children do not just appear like a meteor but are a product of conscious decisions by their parents who have a duty to take care of them. Elsewhere in this issue we have an article featuring a couple that has traumatised their child by fighting over her paternity, with both parties refusing to take custody of the child.
It is quite shocking that a woman has to be forced by a court to look after her own offspring. What could be the problem here? Could it be an issue of her own upbringing? Is it poverty, bitterness against the father of the child, and by extension, to the child? We have seen many women suffer and even living in the streets with their children, showing that no amount of suffering could separate them from their children.
We thank the courts for safeguarding the welfare of minors and hasten to urge parents and parents-to-be that it is a big responsibility to be a parent and that they should play that role seriously as they are moulding a generation after them. If both parents abandon a six-year-old over their squabble over a childa��s paternity, how is the child expected to feel about them, about herself, and about parenting in general? And to those that engage in unprotected intercourse, does it ever cross your minds that the act could result in a child that you would not have planned for?
These fights over who is responsible for the pregnancy and therefore, the child, are becoming common, quite distressing and can be avoided if people behave responsibly. Just recently we had the story of a woman whose children had a rare condition that was treated by an inyanga that later held onto the two healed children pending payment. We believe this is unforgivable abuse that confuses the minors.
While we applaud the mother of the children for seeking treatment for her children, we are appalled by the conduct of the woman inyanga, who should know better about birth pains. Here is a woman, who though poor, is fighting for her children. This is what we expect from parents, instead of fights that bruise children as people pursue their selfish agendas.
Our communities, in conjunction with the Department of Social Welfare and child welfare organisations, have a big role to play in upholding the rights of vulnerable minors. Let us bring cases of abuse to the attention of authorities so that we save lives since child abuse destroys lives through breeding bitterness, self-hate and violence in children who grow up to become worse parents than their abusers if there is no intervention to show them love.
To the parents disowning their child, we would like to urge them to stop and think what their child will say about them 12 years from now, when she turns 18. And the father should also consider what would happen should paternity tests show that he is the biological father. Times may be hard but they shall not get any better by shirking our responsibilities, making our children suffer since our conscience would never give us any rest. There are many that seek this gift from God day and night in vain. Let us treasure our children. .
Online Reporter