A TEACHER said recently, ‘It was so refreshing to hear from a 10-year-old pupil that he does not use the internet…I’m too young…’ he said, ‘After completing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA). I might check it out if my parents let me’. The teacher continued, ‘The child is quite rounded and contented in his childhood. ‘Yes, he does have a hand-held game that he is allowed to play with at weekends and holidays, but he is not ‘hooked’. His parents are clearly monitoring his development and keeping abreast of the things he does’. Apparently, the reason the teacher found what he said so refreshing was due to the fact that she accidentally came across another pupil of hers earlier that week on social media. She explains what happened.

I was getting some information off of my boyfriend’s Facebook account. He is also a teacher and we find and share web sites that help us with our work: and there among his ‘friend requests’ I saw one from ‘Lusty Linda’; I tried to pay it no mind. But as I worked, that one ‘friend request’ picture kept begging my attention, the face seemed so familiar.
The girl was scantily dressed in quite a provocative pose. Like most of the pictures nowadays, she was doing the familiar ‘pout’ with her mouth while looking away from the camera.

I finished my research and went about my daily work, not giving it a second thought. That evening while finishing up lessons with a group of secondary school pupils, it suddenly hit me. I had seen that ‘Lusty Linda’ face before, but not only had I seen her; she used to be one of my NGSA students. Just last year I taught her, she just turned 12 in November.

In my heart I wanted to be wrong, all kinds of things began to rush through my mind. Was she being used for prostitution, maybe even human trafficking? I rushed home wanting to be wrong but no, I was horrified and my heart sank; there she was again, friend request ‘Lusty Linda’. This time I clicked on her picture and opened up her page. She had given her age as 18 and although some unsuspecting person might have been fooled by her full-body size and her size 36 bust, along with her make-up and accessories, in her face you could tell she is a child. It was clear from her many followers that she had been receiving correspondence from different men and this had been going on for some time.

I was so upset and worried about this child that I rang a friend who works at the Childcare and Protection Agency to make a report. After some background checks, he told me that the girl’s name was already in the system and she was taken into care months ago due to lack of parental control. Only then was I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Investigations revealed that the girl was getting away from home and sleeping out: she was often seen in the company of grown men. Her mother had not been outraged or surprised by her daughter’s Facebook identity, she only asked her daughter to take it down, but the child did not comply. For her own safety, the child was taken into care. Parental training is presently ongoing for the mother in question.

While social media can be a useful tool when used in the right way, so many of our young people are at risk because they are not properly supervised or even monitored. As a teacher, my advice to parents is, do not allow your child free access to the internet unless you can monitor them and you are aware of what they are doing. Most children are unaware of the potential dangers to which they are exposed by posting provocative pictures and aspects of their everyday lives on social media. Parents, please care enough to guide them and monitor their usage of the internet , don’t leave anything to chance.
If you are concerned about the welfare of a child ring the CPA hotline on 227 0979 or write to us at childcaregy@gmail.com
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHILDCARE AND PROTECTION AGENCY, MINISTRY OF SOCIAL PROTECTION