the monitor

Our eight-year-old daughter was molested by a close acquaintance

Dear Gaone ​​​​​​​Please keep our identities anonymous. Our eight-year-old daughter was molested by a close acquaintance. Our hearts are bleeding with pain and we feel for our daughter beyond measure. We have reported the matter to the police, investigations are ongoing. It has been a few weeks since we enrolled our daughter for counselling and so far, she is responding well. We are glad about her positive response to therapy and hope for the best, yet we are concerned about her future. What are the long term effects of sexual abuse on a child?

Dear Anonymous

My heart pours out for you with splendid wishes and emotional healing for your daughter in her best interest. There is a plethora of complexities that may befall a sexually abused child in the long term if such a child is not emotionally healed from the trauma of sexual abuse. These complexities include but are not limited to:

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

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