A FEW days ago, a travelling exhibition on child abuse was launched under the auspices of UNICEF, in collaboration with the Ministries of Social Protection and Public Security, the European Union, the Guyana Police Force, and several NGOs. The Exhibition consists of art work done by sexually abused children, and would be taken to various police stations countrywide. The paintings and drawings manifest the terrible sufferings

sexually abused children have to bear, resulting in their having lifelong scars on their psyche.

Such abuse destroys personality, and continues to be destructive even as the child grows into adulthood.

Ms Marilyn Flatt, the UNICEF Representative, in her remarks at the launching of the Exhibition, described the hopeless, silent and severe suffering which envelops abused children: “Children often remain silent because they find it difficult to talk of their abuse, because they are afraid and are not sure where to turn.”

Much of the child abuse occurs within families. The abuser is very often an older relative who had inveigled himself into the trust of the child, and uses the respect for age which the child has in carrying out his wicked designs.

Ms Flatt suggested in her remarks how such abuse could be dealt with: “Children need to know that they need to speak out and not to be afraid, and to speak out when they are being touched inappropriately.

“We can prevent and protect children from suffering abuse and violence, beginning in early childhood, through parenting education and changing attitudes and beliefs that encourage violence and discrimination at an early age.

“Educating families, caregivers and parents on their child’s early development increases the likelihood that they will use positive disciplining methods, and thus reduce the risk of violence within the home.”

First Lady Sandra Granger, in her feature address at the launching, noted: “Increasingly, the Internet and mobile phones also put children at risk of social violence, as some adults look to the Internet to pursue sexual relationships with children.”

We would enjoin both adults and children to visit this exhibition, the first of its kind being mounted in Guyana.

The drawings and paintings bring home the horror of child sexual abuse, and one feels abhorrence for abuse. We think the Exhibition should also be mounted in the prisons.

The exhibition was meant to highlight one important aspect of child abuse, though the organizers of the exhibition are fully aware of the other aspects of child abuse.

Because of uninformed parenting, most children, to a greater or lesser extent, suffer much mental and emotional distress.

Most adults tend to treat children as if they were little adults, and are not aware of the special needs of children at various ages as they grow into adulthood. For example, a child between 8 and 12 years old is changing from infancy to childhood, and a child between 14 and 18 years old is becoming an adolescent.

With the onset of adolescence, certain glands of the body which previously did not function now begin to function by producing new chemical substances, leading to emotional instability.
Certain physical changes begin to take place in the body, such as hair on the faces of boys; and the adolescent sometimes behaves like an adult and at other times like a child, causing puzzlement and irritation to parents and others with whom the adolescent comes into contact. The adolescent has no conscious control over such changes or behaviour.

Whipping of children in schools by certain teachers, and even by parents because they are slow or fail to comprehend what they are taught, will never help children, and may even damage children’s capabilities. The teacher or parent should realize that he or she has failed to find the way to communicate with the children.

Parents should also try to understand the effect of peer pressure on their children, and learn how to accommodate them. For frequent harsh speech, or embarrassment or violence to a child for some perceived offence or failing, could cause a child to quietly ignore parents, or even engage in open rebellion or delinquency.

Parents must understand that they have to learn parenting and be able to empathize with their children. It would be helpful if all parents were to be exposed to a few hours of Child Psychology. This could be done on the TV, or at parent-teachers’ meetings.