Dear Editor,

A headmaster whips a 13 year-old child to discipline her and we yell ” stop, in the name of love”.

A big, “hardback” man takes a 13 year-old child, has sex with her. The child makes another child. At 13 years- old her childhood is lost forever and her normal life irreparably destroyed. And our deafening silence seems to say ” you go girl, in the name of love”.

What kind of human beings are we? What kind of a society have we developed? Where is our religion, where is our culture?

Have we lost our conscience, have we sold our souls to the devil?

There are so many reports of children being raped, 3 year-olds, 9 year-olds, 12 year-olds, 15 year-olds – raped by adults, some by their fathers.

There are so many children roaming the streets, hungry, homeless, neglected.

There are so may children traumatised by domestic violence.

There are so many children falling victims to their parents HIV/AIDS.

There are so many children forced or driven into prostitution, crime, child labour or just plain truancy.

True, disciplining children with the whip has also led to incidents of abuse – reported cases of a teacher hitting a child with a chair leg, or other instances of physical abuse. These cases are very simple to correct. The culprit teacher should be immediately removed from the teaching environment and prosecuted. Every effort should be made to ensure that whipping should remain controlled and discretionary in the hands of the Headmaster/mistress, Deputy or authorised senior master/mistress. Do not spare the rod but rather, let the rod be used sparingly.

Someday, when our society has evolved and our institutions so set up we can revisit the outlawing of flogging completely.

Today, let us as a society, as one people, direct our unreserved fury and vociferous agitation against these more serious and urgent forms of “child abuse”.

Let us pool our energies and resources to stop our children from being sexually, physically and mentally abused. Let us stop our children from being made to wander the streets without food, proper clothing, shelter or education.

They did not ask to be here. We brought them into our world. It is our duty, our responsibility to protect and safeguard their childhood years so that their generation will regain that which we hope and pray for every day- our humanity.

A 13 year-old girl needs to cradle a doll in her arms, not her baby.

Yours faithfully,

Shawn Mangru