CHILDREN can change your mood from one of sorrow and worry to one of happiness and hope. They can be a source of comfort and a much-needed distraction when you’re feeling emotional and they can keep you going when you feel ready to quit. But let us not be candid, they can also test your faith and drive you to despair on occasions. Despite the effect they may have on you, at one time or another, it pays to bear in mind that children are in a state of transition, they are growing and learning all the time, they are also extremely vulnerable.

Even smart, street-savvy children are vulnerable and children who act tough or who are ultra-intelligent and gifted; and it doesn’t matter where they live or what their background and social-standing may be because when it comes to vulnerability and children, there is a level playing field. Children are vulnerable because they lack maturity and experience. They can easily be tricked and beguiled, manipulated and groomed by older, devious people of ill-intent. We often imagine those of ill-intent to be adult but we should consider that older children can sometimes be as much of a perpetrator as a grown-up.

It takes the keenness and astuteness of adults, not to create any situations that might lead to children being sexually abused. When your children are spending days and nights at other people’s homes, make sure you know where they will be sleeping and ensure they stick to sleeping arrangements. When they are playing in the yard with other children, keep an eye on them or make sure they are with an older responsible child.

In a village where the fence between homes is broken down, the children from both households play and run around freely in the yard. There are children of various ages who have more or less grown up together, the youngest child who plays outside along with her older siblings is only 2 years old.

When one of the children, a boy of eleven, kept calling the two-year-old girl to come and play with him, no one thought it odd. Everyone played with this little girl, she was cute. Most of the time she would be carried on the hip of an older child. She was in the ‘mix up’ and by all means, with so many older children around, presumed to be safe. But it was a vigilant neighbour who noticed the boy calling the little girl behind the house, on more than one occasion, that raised a red flag.

Of course, the little girl not knowing better would join him behind the house, where he would touch her private parts while he pretended that he was playing with her. The child should have been safe but she wasn’t; there was an obvious lack of adult supervision. If it wasn’t for that person who raised the alarm, the abuse could have escalated.

Child sexual abuse can be found in the most unlikely places, all because children are vulnerable; even the child perpetrator was vulnerable in this case. Because of his negative upbringing, he lacked guidance and understanding, morals and judgement. Another reason why children sometimes act out sexually or interfere with younger children, is that they have been victims of sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse doesn’t always have to cumulate in an act of penetration. Children are sexually abused when they are fondled or made to touch or play with adults sexually. This type of behaviour is not natural or normal for children, it confuses them and it can have long-lasting effects on their emotional and psychological development.

In the case of the 11-year-old boy and the 2-year-old girl, the boy needed to be seen by a Counsellor at the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA). A professional would have found the reason behind his actions and would have helped him to see where he was inexplicably wrong. Instead, he probably was beaten, threatened and punished for what he’d done; and promised not to do anything like that again. But who knows ‘why’ he did it in the first place and ‘what’ he is likely to do in the future.

There are many yards with many children ‘playing’ across Guyana and lots of households with little children, pre-adolescents and adolescents inside. While there is no need to be suspicious of everyone you come into contact with, there is every need to keep a close watch on your children. You can also equip your children with the ability to talk out and report anything that surrounds them or that is done to them that seems wrong, strange or makes them feel uncomfortable.

Apart from vigilant neighbours, and children who know to speak out, teachers are good at spotting victims of sexual abuse in schools. When abuse is suspected and/or confirmed the teacher contacts the (CPA) and makes a report, which is followed up expeditiously. But due to COVID-19 children have been spending more time at ‘home’ and, therefore, are far more likely to get caught in unwelcomed encounters and testing situations.
Children are vulnerable, please keep a watchful eye on them in your community, your vicinity and your household.