–to help reach, counsel abused children in this new era of social distancing

WORD on the street is that sexual abuse of minors is on the rise, particularly now that school’s out and many children are home alone most of the times.
This was confirmed by at least three officials of ChildLink Guyana during a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

According to Programme Manager Ashome Clarke, and Project Officer Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Rolanda Campbell, “Most of the times, many children are susceptible when the perpetrator knows that the child is alone, and therefore seizes the opportunity to commit the act.”

Clarke said that in many instances, the perpetrator is known to the child or its parents, and is, therefore, trusted by either party.
Campbell also indicated that since the advent of COVID19, ChildLink has adopted a different approach when it comes to reaching their clients and conducting psychosocial counselling with them.

She said that because of social distancing measures now in place at the behest of both the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organisation to help mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus, ChildLink has taken to relying more and more on technology to reach many of their clients.

But, unfortunately, reaching those areas that have no Internet connectivity has been posing a challenge.
Campbell also confirmed that children in Region Four seem to be particularly at risk, since there has been a noticeable spike in the number of incidents occurring there, with most of the victims being 12 years of age and under.

And while Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer Hasani Tinnie concurred with all that his colleagues said, he’s found that most of the cases occur when children are easily accessible to close relatives, or someone who is very familiar to the child.

Ashome Clarke spoke of some other challenges that the organisation faces in reaching their clients because of COVID19, and among them is having enough resources to reach their clients either by phone, WhatsApp or some such other technology-driven means of communication.

This means, Clarke pointed out, that there is great challenge particularly for clients who live in areas such as Sophia and Albouystown, as well as those living in squatting areas.
There is also the challenge of reaching persons who are employed as ‘domestics’, or security guards in terms of their being able to afford to have Internet access.

Clarke noted that when clients aren’t reached, it often has a serious psychological effect on the children in their care, which makes it even more important that they be able to keep in contact with them.