CHILDREN are our most precious assets. This is something that we all agree on. Yet there are millions of children that are abandoned by their parents and left at the mercy of individuals who are not biologically or otherwise connected to these children.
Millions of children never know what a school door looks like. It is difficult to imagine what it is like to stare at the printed word and be unable to know or understand the meaning of such words and symbols.
Such a state of affairs is inexcusable in a world that boasts such great advances in science and technology and where access to information and communication technology is now the defining characteristic of a modern society. 
A BBC story captioned, ‘Greek parents are too poor to care for their children’ caught my attention. What I found particularly interesting is that these are children who come from relatively well-to-do and caring backgrounds, but who have become victims of an unjust system where people who only recently were considered to be middle-class citizens have almost overnight become pauperised to a point where they were forced to make the heart-rending decision of abandoning their children for want of food and clothing.
As the BBC story highlighted, Greece’s financial crisis has made some families so poor that they are giving up the most precious thing of all – their children. This is indeed sad, but it is not an isolated act. In the past two months, a young Orthodox priest who runs a youth centre for the poor found four children at his doorstep including a baby just days old.
Another charity was approached by a couple whose twin babies were in hospital being treated for malnutrition because the mother herself was malnourished and unable to breastfeed them.
One would have thought that such cases of extreme poverty and deprivation would come from the more poverty-stricken economies of Africa and Asia, but the reality is that many of the more affluent European countries are today afflicted by the financial and economic crises which are today victims of unregulated capitalism.
Cases like these are unusual for countries which once boasted above-average living conditions and where there are strong family ties and where failure to look after children is socially unacceptable.
“Over the last year, we have had hundreds of cases of parents who want to leave their children with us….they say they do not have any money or shelter for their kids so they hope we might be able to provide them with what they need,” one caregiver explained.
Requests of this kind were unknown before the crisis. One woman, driven by poverty and who lost her job due to the severe economic crisis had this to say: “Every night I cry alone but what can I do? It hurt my heart  but I didn’t have a choice.”
These are not isolated instances of women who are forced to abandon their children due to lack of employment opportunities. Many of these  are single-parent women who are separated from husbands and spouses and who are no longer in a financial position  to upkeep their child or children. Many are forced into prostitution and other forms of underground activities to care for themselves and their children.
I have always maintained the view that in times of economic and financial crises, it is the women and children who suffer the most. In Guyana there are far too many cases of women who suffer in silence at the hands of abusive men who take advantage of their vulnerability. 
Children are often abused sexually at the hands of foster parents. There are several instances of children being raped and sexually abused by stepfathers and guardians under the very noses of unsuspecting mothers.
There are instances where mothers are reluctant or afraid to confront partners for fear of losing financial support resulting in both mother and daughter suffering in silence at the hands of unscrupulous people.
Only recently a 50-year-old man was taken into police custody after a nine-year-old accused him of raping her while her mother briefly left home to attend to some business. According to the mother, the man was a close family friend who would visit from time to time.
Situations like those mentioned above are not uncommon. There is need to intensify efforts to protect our women and children from such attacks. The government has a responsibility to come to the rescue of children who are victims of abusive relationships and those found guilty must be dealt with condignly and with the full force of the law.
Efforts must also be made to ensure that every child be provided with an opportunity to go to school and those who are guilty of not sending their children to school must be prosecuted. No child must be deprived of a sound education due to the negligence or default of others.
I pause here to convey my deepest condolences to the wife, children and friends of the late Dr. Moti Lall who passed away a few days ago. He will be sadly missed not only by his family and friends but the entire leadership and membership of the People’s Progressive Party and for that matter the Guyanese community as a whole for his invaluable contribution both as a politician and as a medical professional.
May his soul rest in peace!