Silence only empowers the perpetrators
Standing from left are: Programme Coordinator Kaiesha Perry; Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Hasani Tinnie and ChildLinK’s Forensic Interviewer/Counselor Rolanda Campbell (Adrian Narine photo)
Standing from left are: Programme Coordinator Kaiesha Perry; Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Hasani Tinnie and ChildLinK’s Forensic Interviewer/Counselor Rolanda Campbell (Adrian Narine photo)

– speak out against molesters of children, counsellors urge

In the last few days, over 100 stories of sexual abuse and rape have surfaced on Facebook on the profile of social media personality, Melissa ‘Melly Mel’ Atwell, after a simple question she posed on October 3, 2018.

“Have you ever been sexually molested or raped? If yes, why didn’t you report it or tell anyone? Who’s willing to talk?” This was the question which got the ball rolling and soon scores began telling their stories.

Many of the responders, now adults, are females and were molested as children but missed out on the opportunity to tell their stories.

These narratives, made public, have caught the attention of ChildLink, a non-government child protection organisation and the Georgetown-based Child Advocacy Centre (CAC).
These organisations work along with the Ministry of Health, the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) and civic society to provide services to children.
They want these victims to know that there are avenues available to help them heal and the general public to spare no effort in addressing the frightening sexual abuse statistics that remain, from as early as possible.

The most recently completed study, ‘Cries in the Dark’, examined 338 known cases (from 2014 to 2018) of child sexual abuse received by the Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) operated by ChildLinK in Guyana.

Some 61 per cent of the 338 cases were 14 years and above but the centre works with children from as young as three years old and up to age 18.

Through the research, 82 per cent of the children interviewed stated that the sexual perpetrators were either a family member or someone known to the family.

HELP AVAILABLE
Situations like these make it even more difficult for some children to seek or access help, but detailing its procedure, the bodies made known the recuperation measures available.
In cases where the individual that the child is supposed to confide in is the one committing the act, ChildLinK’s Forensic Interviewer/Counsellor, Rolanda Campbell stated that this is where her job comes into play.

She explained that when an allegation of child sexual abuse is reported to the police station or the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), it is then referred to the CAC which then takes a statement from the child.

This is conducted in the most child-friendly manner and within a child-friendly forensic interview room, where only the child and the interviewer interact.

Directly after this process, the child moves on to receiving free psychosocial support through which they are counselled on the traumatic event which lasts for no less than three months.

Programme Coordinator, Kaiesha Perry said that children who are not given the opportunity to receive therapy for such experiences are often, later in life, impacted significantly with inability to function well in relationships and parenting and are influenced by drug use, depression and more.

“I think as a society more and more we’ve taken for granted the impact of child sexual abuse, let alone abuse on a whole. People need to get it out… that is why the Child Advocacy Centre is so important and that is why we try to provide an environment where these children have the support and a child-friendly environment to speak about what they experienced,” she said.

ADULTS, SPEAK OUT
Their research also showed that many of the 338 children, on average, would have experienced sexual abuse from five different known individuals and multiple times.
ChildLink’s research found that while in other cases, children can be coerced; many of these cases were violent or forcible rapes, meaning that the children were not pressured into the acts.

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Hasani Tinnie, on the topic, made known his grievance for community members who choose to be tight-lipped even when well aware of child sexual abuse prevalence in their communities.

“In some communities, there’s a culture where they promote secrecy. A lot is going on but nobody wants to report it,” he said.

A case in point, he said, is the rape-murder of 13-year-old Leonard Archibald from East Bank Berbice by a known sexual abuser who would have successfully targeted some five others in the same community.

Tinnie said: “There are communities where that is the culture, they [parents] don’t want to get counselling [for their children] and they don’t want to report so we have to address the stigma that is attached to counselling and we have to address the culture of secrecy that is pervasive in many communities across Guyana because at the end of the day, it is the children who are left to suffer in silence.”

Another negative culture, Perry wants extinct, is the one whereby parents chose to discredit their children’s reports of sexual abuse or chose to ignore it in turn for financial support from a sexually abusive breadwinner.

The three specialists agree that silence is what continues to empower perpetrators.
Perry reminded: “The same way perpetrators are scouting out our children, they’re scouting out us as adults… simple things as gifts, simple things as providing something for the family, that’s one of the things we need to be conscious of as a society… be careful of who you’re taking things from and who you’re allowing to have access to your children.”

PREVENTION ALWAYS BETTER
To have a greater impact, ChildLink has increased its social media presence and sensitisation in schools, workplaces and clinics.

Recently, the organisation has also been targeting school levels as low as nursery, having realised that preventative measures are better than solutions.

Activities to promote this awareness include the ‘Be Safe’ activity and the ‘Tell Scheme’ which encourage children to disclose to trustworthy adults, the existence of any form of child abuse.

Tinnie revealed that between 2016 to early 2018, over 6,000 children have been sensitised about child abuse through the Child Rights Alliance.

“What we found is that when children are aware they are more likely to come forward and to say ‘something happened to me’ and it shows the level of under reporting that is going on… a lot of children are not aware about what constitutes abuse,” he said.
He added that this is coupled with the fact that many abusers try to normalise their acts manipulatively.

Providing a ratio, Tinnie said one in every 18 children sensitised came forward to report some form of abuse whether sexual or not.

Meanwhile, parenting skills and education sessions are also conducted which sees some parents reporting on cases directly affecting them or someone they know.
“I think we need to do more awareness. I think when persons become equipped with the knowledge where they know not only what is wrong in terms of sexual abuse, but that there’s help or there are agencies that they can go to get help [situations will improve],” Tinnie said.

Presenting their ideas on how more support can come from government and other agencies to address the issues, the three listed increased finances for greater preventative methods provision; increased and extensive awareness campaigns in the hinterland and greater media coverage.

The specialists also called for greater family support; more parents and teachers’ involvement; increased collaboration among non-governmental organisations and government to non-government agencies.

As the anonymous stories are circulated, ChildLink and the CAC want the victims to take away from this article an important message.

“I would say to them, get the counselling support that they need and don’t underestimate the trauma of what sexual abuse can do an individual,” Campbell advised.
While it is difficult and painful to admit to whatever may have happened, Tinnie encouraged victims of child abuse, now young adults or older, to follow through with the therapy process.

Meanwhile, Perry adds: “I would like to say to our adults out there, sexual abuse is just something you’ve gone through and you’ve come thus far and if you feel your healing will require you speaking to professionals about what has happened to you, you need to pick up yourself and get the support you need.”

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