The abuse of children becoming a ‘brand’
– CDA boss
MAXINE HENRY-WILSON, chairman of the Child Development Agency (CDA) said the wanton and brutal killing of children across the island is rapidly taking on the appearance of a “brand”.
“Our hearts must be heavy when we think of the murdering of our children in one form or the other,” said Henry-Wilson while delivering the keynote address at the recent reopening of the Half Moon House at the SOS Children’s Village in St James.
“It is almost becoming a brand of Jamaica and it is very, very sad ... we don’t have to look further than the newspapers this week,” she added.
However, the former government minister noted that amidst the grief and evil being visited upon the nation’s children. The reopening of the Half Moon House had come to the fore as a good story.
“We can’t see and blind and hear and deaf. All of our attributes have to come into play when we are dealing with our children. We have to talk about not just their rights to survival, but for them to develop their full potential,” said HenryWilson.
APPEAL TO CORPORATE JAMAICA
The CDA chairman made an appeal to corporate entities, urging them to assist children in state care, who are qualified and ready to pursue tertiary education, but face serious financial challenges and whose future could be stymied due to lack of opportunity.
“We now have more than 35 graduates of our residential facilities, who are doing tertiary education,” she said.
“Here I am, saying we are looking for some sponsors for these young people ... what we can do to ensure that their life opportunity is fulfilled.”
In making her plea against the background of the rampant abuse of children and the need for more to be done to protect them, she inserted that the nation’s girls needed to be treated with respect.
“We have to seek to protect our children; is there a way to talk to our menfolk to let them know that every young girl is not their personal property?” asked Henry-Wilson.
Sandro Fabris, general manager at the Half Moon Resort was on hand for the reopening ceremony for the SOS Children’s Village – which will accommodate eight children, a house mother, a mother, and an aunt – getting new furniture and fixtures, and pledged more assistance for the home.
Fabris committed and presented a cheque valued at $4.7 million to cover the family budget, utility bills, and general administrative costs for the year.