Where did we go wrong?
Sometimes when members of our community become harsh on people who continue to have children when they know quite well that they cannot take care of them or let alone protect them, we often raise eyebrows and come to their defences that children are a gift from God. Children are indeed a gift from God and as such they should be nurtured and protected to grow into responsible adults.
Children are innocent souls, and rely solely on their guardians to protect them and give them guidance. A child from infant, toddler, school-going age to teenager, needs guidance from parents/guardians to be able to distinguish right from wrong. Our publication this week carries an article where a nine-year-old primary school going child was continuously being raped by her stepfather. The painful part is that the mother knew about it and did nothing to protect the child from being molested by her boyfriend.
Children are vulnerable, and need care and protection from the people they trust the most being their parents. Children have a right to health, education, a clean environment, a safe place to live and protection from all kinds of harm, but sadly some children experience the worst kind of abuse from the very same people who are supposed to protect them.
In this particular ugly incident, the mother claims that she was being threatened by the boyfriend to keep quiet about the ordeal the little girl was undergoing. A mother has always been known to be the biggest protector of all, one who would go an extra mile to ensure that her child/ children are safe, but sadly in this particular case the mother seemed to have surrendered to allow the monster she calls a boyfriend to molest her sweet innocent nine year old.
There is a Setswana saying ‘mmangwana o tshwara thipa ka ha bogaleng’, meaning a mother would give up their life to save the life of her child/children, but sadly for some, it seems different. The mother in this case, who has never reported the sexual abuse her little girl, claims that she was being threatened not to say a word. One would wonder! Is it really that easy to accept the circumstances and decide to torment such a little girl with your choices as a grown up? Unless that woman wants to claim that she was locked in the house and had no way of seeking help from neighbours, relatives and friends, this is totally unacceptable. She is the one who chose that man for a boyfriend and she had no place sacrificing her innocent little child to keep her monster happy.
Once again we plead with government to tighten the law on paedophiles! These children are our future leaders and we need to stand together and protect these children. Increase the penalty for these paedophiles. They all deserve to rot in jail.