Child rape .....so now for the 'Safe Village'

Again over recent months in our television broadcasts and other media, we have been inundated with reports  of child abuse and child rapes.

The Star newspaper of 20th June 2012 has a whole front page that speaks out on the pattern that has made headline stories. "CHILDREN IN PERIL"  it reads. The editor has commented right under this headline. "Rape speaks of rot." After listing several instances of child rape which he calls correctly,               "unimaginably cruel and wicked depravity. "The guilty", he says, "are to be arrested, prosecuted and punished".

In the article itself are statistics and case reports,allegations of lack of clarity on the seriousness of the statistics, allegations of non-submission of statistics or misrepresentation.

The editorial finishes with the comment " It takes a village to raise a child" , then concludes, "our village is rotten to the core".

Many of the cases we have experienced and and are quoted, are at Childhood Development Centres and schools where teachers and others have child supervisory responsibilities. Questions are asked about the child offender's register and its reliability in maintaining a list of people who are not permitted to work with children. All around everyone and everything is being seen as a weakness in the child protection system.

The editorial says that arrest, prosecution and punishment must apply also to those who have failed these children "whether they be elders or social workers."

Well, maybe we have all failed these children. The village is not "rotten to the core". The village has lost something of its traditional system of u'Buntu. It is unprepared , disorganised, ignorant of the signs that identify risk and those who are the initiators of child sexual abuse, and of the signs of the situations that place children at risk.

The spate of instances of child abuse and rape in the media reports is not new. In 2001, the then similar media frenzie on the same issue, sparked President Mbeki to write in ANC Today (30th Nov. 2001)           " Central to their eradication is the action of the people themselves.......The outrage we have all expressed against the rape of children must be translated into determined and sustained activity by all of us to protect our children from those who have lost their souls"

BUT HOW ?

Again,that 20th June editorial. " It takes a village to raise a child"  and " when will the country act?"

The Isibindi model of care has been instrumental in establishing "Safe Parks" in many villages throughout the country. 65 square meters of safe play space for children with trained child and youth care workers providing the professional skills and knowledge that can read situations of risk, children at risk and children who may have been exposed to abuse.

 In 2002, two articles appeared in the NACCW Journal "Child and Youth Care"' (Vol 20 No 4 April 2002) which made the point that the village has to be helped to be structured again to  re-establish the lost culture of u'Buntu and to empower its people to protect its children.

 This article is putting forward again, ideas that were expressed in those two 2002 articles to now take the ideas of the "Safe Park" and expand then into the "Safe Village"

The editorial is right... it's time.!!

There are two ideas here. The one comes from the article by Barrie Lodge who wrote then like this               " Communities must be helped and the child and youth care worker is ideally positioned to provide this help in the following ways:

•  to recognise the signs of risk and the potential for abuse
•  to be shown how and to whom the silence can be broken without putting themselves (whistle-blowers) at risk
•  to refer to a multi- displinary network of trusted people who follow tried and professional protocol for dealing with concerns at the preventative level."

This model suggests that key village members need to be trained, educated and skilled to watch, observe, recognise risk spot suspicious behaviours and to act to protect . The need also to help children to do the same for themselves.


Buyi Mbambo in her article of the same journal has some practical ideas to bring back the safety of the village she once knew It is suggested in this model that a starting point be made in the training and co-operation of 5 homes in one street or block be gathered for the training and that they form a circle of care for the children in that block. They are trained to know where the adults are and the children are. That they walk together, that they take common responsibility for the children and the children for each other.


 A combination of these two models could make for a safer village


The village is not "rotten to the core". Actually the village is good at working systems and to organise itself .
The village is concerned and the village cares. It just has to regain something of the traditionalism it has lost and be helped with the knowledge and skills to know risk and when the cues are hinted in the life of the village and its people.

Child and youth care workers are ideally positioned to take a lead in what we must now do....they have the "Safe Park " model.

 It takes a village to raise a child.... so come on... for the sake of the children, villagers.... lets do it!!.