Puppet show teaches pre-schoolers about abuse
Puppet shows have been around as a source of entertainment for hundreds of years. But this morning News 5’s Jacqueline Woods found out that they can also teach some important lessons.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It was a special day for Belize City preschoolers. The boys and girls were taken out to B.T.L. Park, not to play on the slides and swings, but to spend some time with puppet friends Ebony and Sam. The puppet show was held to demonstrate to the children that no matter how young they are, they can do things to protect themselves from abuse.
Lorna McDougal, Director, NOPCA
“A lot of young children are being either sexually molested from a very young age or being hit, they are being hit. So we want them to differentiate between the good touches and the bad touch, so that they know that if they are being hit that it is not okay and they are people that they can go to and tell. The same way if people are touching them, taking advantage of them, exploiting them, that they know that it is not right, it’s not good, and it makes them feel bad. And when it makes them feel bad, that they should not keep that feeling to themselves, that they should go and tell someone who can help them. The aim is to help these children to get the situation to stop.”
Lorna McDougal, Director of the National Organization for the Prevention of Child Abuse, NOPCA, says the reality is that the community is not always a safe playground and children should become aware of the dangers that exist and what prevention measures can be taken.
Lorna McDougal
“They can themselves in many ways. And so they need to be aware of their environment, they need to be aware that mommy says that nobody should pick me up from school except her or daddy and if somebody comes to them and say mommy sent me, no you don’t go, you run to the teacher and tell teacher that teacher can look into the situation.”
“And even these young children, I see many of them going to school in the care of an older sibling, not much older than themselves and they need to be aware. They need to be aware of people who cannot be trusted.
Most of these children may not have been around five years ago when the worst kind of violence against children was committed. Five children: Sherilee Nicholas, Erica Wills, Jackie Malic, Jay Blades and Noemi Hernandez were abducted and murdered between 1998 and 2001. Today the girls’ killer or killers have not yet been found.
Lorna McDougal
“We are very disappointed that the authorities were not able to bring even one person to trail. I’m not sure if the investigation is going on. The last time I checked, they told me yes…I’m not too sure about that.”
Authorities say the case remains open but as time goes by it becomes less likely that the murders will be solved. This week, NOPCA will be meeting with the victims’ families to help them cope with the tragedy and try to bring some closure to their loss.
Lorna McDougal
“You know when something has not been resolved it stays with people longer. And I am sure that these families were not afforded the kind of help that they needed to get over the trauma that they experienced. So what we want to do is to have what we call a survivor’s tea and to see where they are now with their experience. And hopefully it’ll come off, we’re having some difficulty identifying the immediate family members, but we hope that before the end of the day we would have sorted that out and we can get together. What we want to do is just to have a round table kind of discussion, give them the opportunity to talk and to say how they are feeling right now.”
A Remembrance Service for the child murders is scheduled for Thursday night at the Wesley Healing Centre on Albert Street. That service starts at 7:30. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
The puppet show was held as part of activities for Child Abuse Prevention Week.
