SILENT BUT ABUSED
Many children sexually abused and suffer lasting trauma
Local Gender Based Violence (GBV) centres across the country have noticed that sexual violence is the most rampant form of abuse.
Shelter Manager at Women Against Rape (WAR), Gaoganetswe Mosimanegape says any form of abuse on children is not okay as it affects them the same way.
Children that are abused, whether emotionally, physically or sexually, all suffer from trauma hence communities must strive to raise children that are not traumatised in any way.
“Our observation during most counselling sessions is that most people have been abused when they were young, and end up developing anger as a defence mechanism,” she says.
Sexual violence, she insists, happens because elders fail to discuss sexual issues with their children. “This leads to children finding themselves abused sexually for a long time because there is no platform to express themselves,” Mosimanegape says.
In the Okavango/Nhabe region, the needs of children are often neglected as parents stay in cattle posts and ploughing fields, leaving their children in the care of their older siblings or relatives.
“This is where some cases of sexual abuse start because children remain vulnerable to abuses in the absence of their parents,” she adds.
In July, they recorded six cases of sexual abuse, another six for emotional abuse and four for physical abuse affecting children. Until the community is empowered about the importance of child welfare, child abuse will continue to rise, Mosimanegape says.
In most family settings, the safety of a child is not considered important. “African parents think that by buying food and clothes for a child, they have played their role as parents but it goes beyond that, as they must protect their children against any form of abuse,” she adds.
Sadly, more cases go unreported because the victim’s family always protects the perpetrators.
Senior Counselor and Centre Manager at Botswana GenderBased Violence, Prevention and Support Centre (BGBVC), Kitso Motlhale tells The Midweek Sun that they also get cases of sexual abuse involving children.
“Mostly we receive cases of sexual abuse including incest, defilement and once in a while sodomy which can happen between two minors or a minor sodomised by an adult man, as well as child neglect cases,” she says.
They have had cases of neglect where children are left all alone and end up turning into delinquents or becoming urchins. “In all these cases we work closely with social workers and police,” Motlhale explains.
“We do receive children that come to the centre accompanied by their mothers because they have witnessed abuse in their homes, which leaves them traumatised,” she adds.
In the case where there is a threat to kill or attempted murder against the mother, while the perpetrator is still at large, it is only safe for the children to be admitted with their mother because most of the time children are sacrificial lambs between the parents.
The centre has a total of 20 cases of child abuse. Half of them are sexual assault cases. Most of the cases are not reported as the family protects perpetrators in order to protect the family name.
We all have an obligation and responsibility to protect and promote children’s rights. We should all guard against breeding a generation of broken adults. We can only do so if we work in solidarity and fight child abuse from family to community and eventually national level,” Motlhale says.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Botswana reports that physical violence is the most prevalent form of abuse among children.
Health Protection Specialist at UNICEF, Botswana, Gomolemo Rasesigo tells The Midweek Sun that child abuse remains a worrisome issue in Botswana.
“We have realised that physical violence is the most prevalent among children, especially the boy-child.”
According to the Violence Against Children Survey (VACS), children in Botswana experience high levels of physical abuse. The survey shows that 43 percent of boys and 28 percent of girls experience physical violence and 14 percent of both sexes experience emotional violence.
It states that among children who had never had sexual intercourse, one in four females and one in 20 males experienced forced sex at the time of their sexual debut.
Sadly, these figures continue to increase in large numbers.