No protection from sex abuse for kids

(The following is a letter to the editor, i sent to the Trinidad Guardian, it was published on 1st March 2006...still nothing has been done)

Who is protecting our children? Obviously no one is, if one is to judge by recent reports of the innocence of children being stolen.

In 1998 T&T was rocked by the story of 12-year-old Akiel Chambers being buggered and killed yet his death remains unsolved. Today scenes of sexual abuse are common—from Dane Andrews who, like Akiel, was buggered and murdered; the Mayaro teacher accused of sexual abuse and showing his students pornography; Nelson Street Boys School that has a Standard Five predator who sexually molests younger students, and in Bethel a sex ring of girls around the age of 13 being prostituted to all who can afford.

Obviously the sexual responsibility in T&T is poor and our children are suffering because of it. A report in one daily revealed that the top selling items for Valentine’s Day were sex toys. If this doesn’t send a message then the escalating number of Aids victims should.
No one is safe from Aids or rapists or abusers but it is our duty to ensure that our children are protected from these threats to their survival and healthy development.
In typical Trini style, however, these and most issues of this nature are put on the back burner. Instead of focusing on how we could resolve the problem we prefer to occupy our time passing blame.

What we fail to realise is that everyone is responsible: the abusers; the parents for lack of supervision; the judiciary; teachers who see children silently crying out for help and who do nothing; the cable company; the TV stations; the video retailers who allow pornography to infiltrate and destroy our West Indian values system; customers of sex rings like that in Bethel; the Government which sees the problem and chooses to spend time sharing out blame; the Opposition that sits by with a smile as the country crumbles to its knees, and the older generation that watches the youth being corrupted and instead of doing something criticises.
The message being sent to the young victims of sexual abuse is “talk and nothing will be done.”
In Mayaro the teacher is allowed to return to school to finish his pornography lessons, according to news reports. Sex rings in Tobago continue to operate. Nelson Street parents are protesting but seem to be procrastinating. The Akiel Chambers case remains unsolved and the cries of Dane Andrews’ mother is beginning to be forgotten.

For victims of sexual abuse, hope is crushed by reality. The question remains: how many more must silently suffer before the torture of at least one is heard and becomes the main focus until solved?