Aslm all,
Please note
this is a topic of a sensitive nature.
I’ve been
thinking for a while about the people we come into contact with on a daily
basis, especially the people my children meet. Since reading about the Bishops
Boys School Teacher that had a sexual relationship with her pupils, a more
recent article, about a boy that was raped by his Madressa teacher (Islamic schoolteacher),
while they were on camp in December 2019. (The link for both these articles are at
the end of the post.)
My
thoughts: How do we
(society) protect children (children = all children) from
THE WORLD. Do we teach our kids about
what is good and bad? Do we teach them about right and wrong? Who to TRUST?
When I was at school we were taught about ‘Stranger Danger’ but does it hold
any truth today? ‘Coz let’s face it; in the world we live in today our people
(mother, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbours, etc.) could be a
murderer; a paedophile, a rapist or be in a sexual relationship with a child.
With all of
these thoughts in my head, I do a quick Google search and find the below: The age of consent in South Africa. Source:
Sections 15 and 16 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters)
Amendment Act, 2007.
In South Africa, the
age of consent is 16 for boys and girls; and includes same-sex sexual
experiences.
Exceptions:
- Children will not be criminally charged if they have sex, if both partners are between 12 and 16 years old.
- And it’s not criminal for a child under 16 to have sex with a partner less than 2 years older.
However, South African
law states that no child under 12 is capable of giving consent to sex,
therefore any sexual act with a girl or boy under 12 constitutes rape or sexual
assault.
(The web link is at
the bottom of the post.)
Interesting.
But it doesn’t
comfort me at all.
But what do
I protect them from, do I stop them from going to school, having friends,
talking to people, the list is really long of things that I would protect my
kids from? If i must be
brutally honest, I live in fear for my life, the life of my family and friends.
Yes, I am scared. I am
sometimes scared to cross the road because I might step off the pavement and be
knocked over because the driver looked down at their cellphone. I am scared at
night when it is load shedding and I am alone with my boys coz my husband is at
work. I am scared that I may not see my boys when I come home from work coz I
could have been in an accident. I am scared that my child will be snatched from
my arms if I am walking in a mall. I am scared to take my child to the park
because I am not sure how safe it is. I am scared to TRUST people because trust
is so easily broken.
What I am
most afraid of is that I pass my fears onto my children.
You read
right, my fears are
my fears and not my children's. They have their entire lives to figure out what
they are scared of and don’t need me to add to the list. Children are meant to
be fearless and carefree.
I am trying
to teach my boys and any child I have the honour of looking after that they
need to be careful the world is not safe, but the World is beautiful and there are people that can be
trusted.
As
mentioned below are the web links:
Aslm &
Thank you,
Ayesha
Very thought provoking and such real concerns. These are my everyday fears. What makes it worse is how some families still cover up abuse because of the fear of what others may think. May the Almighty protect and guide our children Aameen xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for your message. I will be doing a follow on post to this post.
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