Youths demand end to murders

Yesterday sixteen year old Kevin Forrester, a member of UNICEF’s Children’s Advisory Committee and thirteen year old Kendra Buller of NOPCA’s Children in Action sat down with a number of other young people to discuss the child murders. This morning the two young people braved the camera, lights and teleprompter in the News Five studio so that they could ask the government, and all of you at home, to help stop the killing before another child dies.

Kevin Forrester

“It is said that the past helps people to understand the present. This rings true. In the past, workers resisted against unemployment, unfair wages and so on, by rioting. Because the government raised the wages, the riots ceased. This was only a Band-Aid on the permanent bruise of unemployment and unfair wages. The same thing goes for the responses to the brutal deaths of seven young girls. This Band-Aid issue, which only covered the needs of circumstances at hand, gives a false sense of security and is ineffective for the long-term wounds received from the unfortunate deaths of the minors.”

Kendra Buller

“As a young person growing up, I never thought the day would come when I might have to worry about my safety. This is not to say that I am a reckless person. Quite the opposite, but in light of the recent events in which seven young girls, some even younger than myself have been raped, tortured and murdered, this country has seemed to let these incidents slip through their minds. These deaths have started a series of events so horrifying that we choose to remain blind, than to open our eyes to the realities of what is happening. Is this a general break down? Or lack of concern on the parts of our parents and guardians, or the community on the whole? In a time when people are more willing to talk about child abuse and neglect, why is it then, that nothing is being done to decrease the violence. It worries me to think that since our last census, Belize had a population of about two hundred and fifty thousand people, half of which were under the age of twenty-five years. If half of the population lives with abuse as a norm, one of the everyday occurrences, what then becomes of the future children? Child abuse is something that everyone talks about now, but who takes the blame when things take a turn for the worst.”

Kevin Forrester

“Let’s take a look at the National response. With the recommendations from the Children of Belize, mainly from the Children’s Summit, the government of Belize put in place a curfew system. In this system, children 16 years and younger will be required to be in the company of an adult if on the streets between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. This was definitely a step forward, but it is not a cure, nor the end to a situation that has become a crisis. It should be noted that most of the young girls, who were killed, went missing during the day NOT at night. It is a great delusion to believe that a maniac off the street is going to grab children and carry them to an isolated place and rape and/or kill them. Persons whom the victims love and trust are in most instances the abusers. So then, if the victims trust most abusers, one has to think what makes this curfew so effective? However, it is good to note that the number of children seen walking at night has been significantly reduced.”

Kendra Buller

“There has been an increase in public awareness, and as a result both public and private organizations have shown more support. The government has placed school wardens in schools, and increased the number of truancy officers. There has also been a change in laws, which requires that second time offenders must undergo counseling. But why must we wait until a person has repeated the act before we decide that he or she needs counseling. Shouldn’t he/she be given help the first time around in order to prevent it from happening again? Is it that we need to make sure that the person needs help?”

“We need to wake up. Violence is so prevalent that we have become numb, we have closed our ears to the cries of the children of this nation. We are not talking about children in a country stricken by war, famine, and disease. We are a young nation.”

Kevin Forrester

“There are many organizations that can help families. But they cannot do all the work on their own. The situation cannot be cured in one step. Many people had a false sense of security after the curfew. We seem to live in a society with Band-Aid issues. We feel that a quick fix will take care of it all. People felt that the killings would come to an end, but they haven’t. Many felt that we had closed the door on an ugly situation, and thrown away the key so that it may never again revive, but it hasn’t. We need to help each other, we need to build a safety net. We need to stop gossiping and take action. There should be more counseling services available. It appears that the Social Service in Belize cannot handle the load of abuse cases that come in. We would like to see the government providing scholarships for this area of study. The scars that result from child abuse, affect not only the victims of the abuse, but also their families. Support and counseling need to be provided for them as well. None of the families can ever forget the loss of their children, not that of Erica Wills, nor Jackie Malic, Sherilee Nicholas, Jay Blades, or any of the other girls whose cases we have been hearing about, or even those that have still not been brought to light. Parents should always be aware of where their children are. It takes less than minute to spare a lifetime of pain. Fellow children, we encourage you to use the buddy system, avoid going anywhere alone. Parents, we encourage you to get to know the friends and acquaintances of your kids. Teach your kids safety rules, and encourage them to go with their gut feelings about a situation.”

Kendra Buller

“From a security point of view, when a child goes missing, there should be checkpoints set up at the points of exit. In the past 10 months, many of the children that were killed were from Belize City. By road, there are only two points of exit: the Northern and the Western Highways.”

Kevin Forrester

“Let’s remove the Band-Aids from our minds. How many more children must die before we take action? Lets’ start now! Help protect the children, for the children of today are the future come tomorrow.”

Kevin Forrester is a student at St. John’s College while Kendra Buller attends Grace Primary School. The views expressed by the commentators on the Last Word are not necessarily those of Channel Five. Viewer comments are welcome.