This week we focus on a video which is making the rounds on social media that revealed a fight between two adults, one armed with a cutlass, and a young boy who saw it fit to part the fight. This newspaper followed the reaction from people, including parents, and was taken aback at the way most dismissed the contents as simply entertainment. It was only after viewing the video a second time that people saw the seriousness of the situation.
Here we must thank the person who captured the incident and saw it fit to expose it with the hope of bringing it to people’s attention. Some people may disagree that all he did was to video tape the action instead of getting out of his vehicle to provide some kind of help. However, there is a saying that ‘who is in the kitchen, knows the heat.’ Well maybe the driver allowed good sense to prevail by not getting involved in the fight after seeing the level of violence.
The video showed a woman running after a man with a cutlass. A stranger to the area in Pearls, Saint Andrew where it happened would not have known whether she mentally disturbed. Then there was the heart wrenching part where the man chose to beat her in the head and shoulder with a standing fan until it broke to pieces. The little boy must have seen blood as he wiped the woman’s shoulder and it was then he decided that for everybody’s sake including a young girl who was looking on, he had to jump in to stop that kind of behaviour by the two adults. It is our hope that counselors locate the children and give them some form of consolation and therapy after witnessing such a nightmare.
This cannot and will not be taken for business as usual. Action must be taken so that anyone in Grenada
or beyond our shores will know that kind of behavior is not accepted across the board here. We are hoping that the Child Protection Authority (CPA) and other groups that are interested in the welfare of children will stand up against what seems to be children growing up in dangerous conditions. Let’s start paying attention to the fabric of people we are raising in Grenada, because after all ‘children learn what they live.’
The Child Protection Authority has started a newsletter on line which is all well and good; but surveys must be done to see whether it is reaching the people it was intended for and whether it is achieving its goal. The CPA has also distributed posters in schools reminding the staff that schools must always be a safe place for children. That is another good move; but again posters by themselves may not always work since only last week a student was charged in connection with a stabbing incident. While the incident did not take place at the school, it most likely was planned there. So the concern now is what’s the future for a young boy who already has a Police record for such a serious act.
Intervention is needed in a bold way now to help our children. Is it really true that the boys at the Fr Malligan Home are allowed to roam the area at nights without supervision? There was a time parents who found it difficult to raise children who were out of control, reached out to certain Police Officers for help and this quietly brought good results. Some of these children even ended up taking up jobs in the Police Force later.
The CPA believes that teaching children empowerment strategies and engaging them in appropriate discussions are important for keeping them safe. With a show of that kind of interest, we await to hear whether the situation in Pearls will be attended to. Please CPA, please find the young boy and girl who most likely are facing ridicule in their school and community where they live and while you are at it take actions so that the two adults will know that such behavior comes with consequences.
As adults “we are spoiling the world for our children; they are growing up scared of men” words from a calypso by the Mighty Chalkdust in Trinidad and Tobago. Another song this time written by the late Sammy Davis JR says “Don’t blame it on the children” for their behaviour in some instances. Much has been said to stamp out sexual molestation, but there are more crosses out there that children are forced to bear in silence.
