The reality of child abuse

Victoria Seiketso Sethibe | Thursday May 26, 2016 14:42

Rape and Defilement

A total of 142 primary and junior secondary school girls have been impregnated in this country, through defilement in a period slightly over a year from April 2015 (Dow, 2016). In another report, the number of child rape cases were said to be a daily occurrence in local courts from even as far back as 2012 (Edwin, 2012). According to the report, perpetrators were reported to include fathers, stepfathers, uncles and cousins, who were naturally expected to protect the children.

Just recently, on 8 April, 2016, a father was reported to have repeatedly committed incest on a toddler and left some serious bodily injuries on the child, while the mother failed to protect the baby (BONELA, 2016).

This just goes to show how very endangered the girl child, at all ages is. It is also clear that teaching children not to talk to strangers is not enough to keep them safe. Does this mean the boy child is safe from sexual abuse? Only time will tell.

Since sexual abuse mostly takes place at the hands of a known, trusted individual, it betrays what in the eyes of the child and everyone else in the family, is supposed to be a child’s safe world. This betrayal is the most damaging aspect of abuse in that it can destroy the child’s trust in her judgement and everyone else around her. A victim of child sexual abuse can also grow up with the perception that events are beyond her control, resulting in persistent anxiety and depression well into adulthood.  Since children learn through observation and imitation, they can also grow to be abusive adults.

 

What motivates paedophiles?

Contrary to what some people believe, paedophiles are not driven by their sexuality. The desire to express their ability to control is what dominates them (Hammel-Zabin, 2003). One of the control mechanisms paedophiles commonly use is gifts to reward the victims for not raising an alarm, especially if they know that the gifts are highly likely to be appealing to their targets.

The other thing that seems to worsen paedophilia and lack of shame in perpetrators is what seems to be tolerance, by other community members. Street expressions such as “goja stoko,” “go harvesta” or “go dira zero grazing” may sound funny to those who use them. The bigger picture is that paedophiles strip children of their self respect, the ability to say no to things that are not of benefit to them and trust.

 

Distribution of illegal drugs among children and teenagers

Even though Botswana Substance Abuse Support Network (BOSASNet) is making efforts to fight substance abuse in the country, addiction to hard drugs such as cocaine especially among youth is still a problem (Kayawe, 2015). In 2008, Statistics Botswana revealed that 12.3% of children aged 10 to 14 years were reported to be intoxicated at least once a month. Hard drugs have been reported to be sold at residential doorsteps and around school premises by some adults (Kgamanyane, 2014). Some of the consequences that were said to follow as a result of usage of hard drugs include; rape, road accidents, family conflicts, unplanned pregnancies, crime, HIV/AIDS, risky practices such as; sex parties, mzwane and pool parties.

It is clear from child abuse reports, that the much complained about anti-social behaviour of youths is primarily a result of the actions of adults who do not care about children’s welfare and instead use children and youth for their own self-centred instant gratification.

 

References

BONELA (2016, April 08). BONELA files an urgent application for a protection order against a father’s abuse on a Maun three-year old child. BONELA. Retrieved from www.bonela.org.-8th-april-2016.

Dow, U. (2016, May 11). Letter to Amon and others. Mmegionline. Retrieved from www.mmegi.bw/May/11.

Edwin, P. (2012, September 24). Rape reaches crisis level in Botswana. Mmegionline. Retrieved from http://www.mmegi.bw/2012/September/Monday24.

Kayawe, B. (2015, August 05). Research shows growing cocaine use among youths. Mmegionline. Retrieved from http://www.mmegi.bw/august/05.

Kgamanyane, N. (2014, November 18). A lot of money is spent on drugs and substance abuse. Mmegionline. Retrieved from http://www.mmegi.bw.