BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - RETIRED Early Childhood Coordinator, Vanta Walters said that in order for child abuse to stop, the silence kept by those who see and know about it must be broken.
She made these comments while speaking as guest speaker at a recent graduation ceremony held in honour of ten toddlers who were moving on from nursery to pre-school.
She spoke with reference to this year's Child Month theme: "Act now, break the silence, stop child abuse" which she described as "very fitting" given the high rate of child abuse in the Federation.
"Adults are the ones who abuse children and this is because they cannot defend themselves against us. They cannot fight back, we are too big so we take advantage of them sometimes and this will surely hinder them from making good quality progress towards tomorrow and all the other tomorrows," she said.
Walters explained that as parents, teachers, and adults, children look up to us to nurture them and give them guidance.
"These little ones look to us with utmost confidence to infuse new meaning and new energy into their lives. These are the ones who would bring hope to us and brighten the lives of others," she said.
"Do we always fulfill that role? Don't we sometimes fail miserably?" she asked.
She gave a number of examples of child abuse.
1. "Some time ago while I was driving past a rum shop, there was this lady standing outside of the shop with baby in one arm and a bottle of beer in the other. As she took her sip of bear, she put the bottle to the baby's head and started feeding it with the beer. Of course, I confronted her and her response was 'teacher, I going out tonight and I want him to go sleep'. Imagine the effect of alcohol on that poor child's brain. Is that child abused?"
2. "Once I saw a child with a bad scar in the palm of her hand. My inquiry revealed that she had taken one dollar from her mom and so to teach her not to ever steal again, the mom heated the dollar coin in fire until it was red, then placed it in the child's hand, now you tell me if that is child abuse."
3. "I went to a conference recently about child abuse and on display were several pictures of children who were victims of child abuse in all its forms.
But what drew my attention was a picture of a very small child displaying a large cut with over 20 stitches in the child's head. I felt like I wanted to throw up. Imagine my further disgust when the holders of the conference informed me that the child sustained that injury at a nursery. To this day, the people at the nursery cannot give a proper explanation of how the child obtained that injury other than to say that the child fell."
4. "I recently read an article in one of our local newspapers in which an illustration was given where a teacher told a child to tell their mom to buy them a geometry set and this is how the mom responded to the child, 'Where me get money from, I gon tief it? All you father ain give me a cent, me got bills to pay and de bills dem ah come faster than how fowl ah pick corn. You could use geometry set? You dunce like a bat, you gon come wutliss just like you father. Me money? You better move from in front ah me before me tek dis and knock you down'."
"Just imagine the impact that these experiences have on children," she said.
Walters went on to inform that child abuse is very prevalent in the Federation in all its forms.
"In fact just recently our Chief Medical Officer disclosed that for every one hundred children born in the Federation, at least 15 of them are victims of child abuse and he went on to say that the Ministry of Social Development records about one hundred child abuse cases per year and those were only the reported cases," she enlightened.
"So what about the other cases that are not reported?" she asked, "it means that people are still not telling. They remain silent while our children suffer abuse."
"Recently I was conducting a workshop and one of the participants shared that she knows of a five year old girl who at the time was being sexually abused on a regular basis by her father. The child would say to her some mornings when she comes to school 'teacher me and me daddy do it again last night'. I felt sick. She had not reported it, and would not even disclose to me who the man was. Why? She said because of who he is in society, she is afraid to say anything," Walters explained.
She said that silence needs to be broken so that children and child abuse can stop, and our children could truly become the promise of tomorrow.
"But why do you think that parents or we, as adults, keep silent about the things that they should not keep silent about? Some say that silence is golden, that is why they keep silent but I dare you to show me any gold in keeping silent about these heinous acts committed against our children," Walters challenged.
The retired Early Childhood Coordinator said that there are those persons who believe that "to spare the rod is to spoil the child", so they do not believe that beating a child with a stick or pot spoon or a hunter or kicking, slapping, punching and shoving a child is child abuse so they keep silent.
She went on to say that another reason is the belief that "sticks and stones can break my bones but words can do me no harm, therefore yelling at a child, telling a child that he is no good and that he is going to end up in jail, that is not considered child abuse not realising that the embarrassment and ridicule can go very deep, sometimes even deeper than the physical wound so they continue to keep silent".
Walters said that people also keep silent because they are unable to recognise when child abuse is taking place. She said that there are some adults who are unaware that child abuse is unaccepted in society so they keep silent noting that "the perpetrators might be a teacher, a lawyer, a family member and even some preachers, or some high society millionaire who can pay hush money to keep persons silent".
"Then they are those who feel, 'it is none of my business, I don't want anybody to say that I am fast' so they keep silent. Some persons are threatened and because of that they keep silent, while some are afraid of what the possible consequences might be and so they do not speak out.
"There are some persons who are afraid to go to the Court to testify so they keep silent; and shame also makes some people keep silent. Then there are those who honestly don't know what to do; they do not know who to report to, how to report and they are concerned about confidentiality, so the silence continues.
Walters said that one cannot blame those who say 'I am fed up because I have made reports before and I know of others who have made reports and nothing was done' and therefore keep silent but they must continue to speak out.
"Whatever reasons you might be keeping silent about, stop it! Do not remain silent; that silence must be broken. If it is not broken, our children will be continuously abused and this will have serious effects on our children.
"Yes parents, teachers, and all adults, our children are our tomorrow and tomorrow depends on all of us," Walters said.
