adminThe call by Ruwa police for parents and guardians to accompany their children to school is most welcome because it is no longer safe out there.
Gone are the days when kids could play in the streets until dusk with no other threat except being knocked down by reckless drivers.
It seems the rise in modern day get rich quickly schemes have become every child’s nightmare, as most of them involve ritual killings for body organs.
Unfortunately, children are an easy target for ritual killings, as they can’t fight off the adult murderers.
Children are being kidnapped countrywide, and nowhere is it safe for them, except under the watchful eyes of their parents and guardians.
After noticing that children no longer play outdoors, the kidnappers have changed their methods and moved to schools.
They study parents’ routines when picking up their kids and almost replicate them to waylay the innocent souls and kill them to harvest body parts they would have been told to bring by evil sangomas for use in rituals that would purportedly make one rich.
Accompanying children to school and picking them up after school will help protect them from these heartless killers.
The days of trusting strangers are long gone and parents must teach their children not to trust anyone, as well as not to accept any goodies like sweets, chocolate or ice cream.
Kidnappers hang around schools pretending to be parents waiting to pick up their kids, yet they will be searching for easy targets that are unaccompanied.
Not only must parents be vigilant, but schools too must put in place measures that ensure the safety of every child in their care.
For example, Eagle’ Nest Pre-School in Budiriro has introduced password systems for the collection of children only known by the kids’ guardians or parents.
That makes it hard for kidnappers to have access to these kids, except if an unscrupulous pre-school official divulges passwords to the criminals.
If parents, schools and the community work together, spaces for criminals to operate will be reduced and eventually eradicated.
Unfortunately, the advent of social media has made us lose our humanity for want of getting likes and followers.
We take videos of criminal activities and post them on social media instead of acting against the vices that happen right in front of our eyes.
A recent video of a Form One girl smoking what is thought to be mbanje in Westlea sent social media into a frenzy.
Disgusting as it was seeing an adult man giving the young girl to puff in uniform while on her way to school, nothing was done. Instead someone just chose to film it and post it on social media.
Communities should take action against drug pushers. For as long as we allow them to live safely in our neighbourhoods, kidnappings, sexual abuse of children, delinquency and anti-social behaviour will become commonplace, and that can only spell the death of a nation.
Communities must be at the forefront of fighting crime in their localities to create safe environments for our children to grow up in.
Online Reporter