The study rotates around family conflicts (or mental health issues) which, if mismanaged, potentially, spills over into the wider community. It goes further to trace individual concerns (inner conflicts) that families consciously or unconsciously perpetuate –which, if not given due attention, like a time-bomb, blows up into serious social costs like substance abuse, aggressive and risky behaviors, increased HIV/AIDS prevalence, low productivity, poverty and looming ignorance to solve those problems. It is, thus, pertinent to address such problems from the environment around the root (individuals at family level) in order to achieve sustainable peace in the wider community (global peace).
A family is a fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children (thefreedictionary.com, retrieved October 7, 2010) defines. Family mental health is critical determinant of future wars, turmoil and their consequences while parenting justified parenthood through realization of noble roles in respect of child development and growth that sees the child re-socialize and project him or herself to independence, learn to co-exist peacefully with family members and society as well as be in position to prioritize among the various interaction sources in the environment to achieve defined goals in life. Fancher R. (2010) explained, “…Because what other people think determines what opportunities you're going to have in life, and other people already have that power, whether you and your therapist recognize it or not."
There are nearly 54 million people around the world with severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder (manic-depressive illness). Estimated 154 million people suffer from depression. People living in developing countries are disproportionately affected. Mental disorders are increasingly prevalent in developing countries, the consequence of persistent poverty-driven conditions, the demographic transition, conflicts in fragile states and natural disasters. At the same time, more than 50% of developing countries do not provide any care for persons with mental disorders in the community. These disorders bring significant hardship not only to those who suffer from them, but also to their caregivers -- often the family, given the lack of mental health resources found in developing countries (WHO, 2007).
As the family continues to play its children development roles –providing both moral and physical support, the community, too, begins to identify its development concerns and wishes in that child. That, though, can either be for the good or worse. Responsibility on the part of family and community and eventual decisions made, thus, contributes to mental wellness of the child that characterizes freedom from the means to psychological trauma as violence.
Absence of love, trust, and feeling of insecurity on the part of the child influences later development outlooks and, in years to come, it will be society that either benefits or suffers. Forgiveness reduces excessive anger in children and in teenagers and may prevent the development of later psychiatric disorders by giving children and teenager a proven method for resolving anger (Fitzgibbons P., 2005).
The main objective of the intervention is to proactively deal with violence against children and family level to achieve sustainable global peace. The intervention set out to find out how best to make X’s movements safe, to identify origins of the sudden break down of mental functioning, develop ways to recovery of X, and X’s recovery and its implication on peace of the family and wider community.
The scope of the intervention is child abuse and neglect in families and their implication on peace in the wider community (global peace). The significance of the intervention is to reach sustainable peace for future generations to thrive by addressing conflict issues (or psychological concerns) right from within individuals in the families to the wider community.
There was a case involving a youth (X) who had suddenly broken down –mentally and began loitering on the streets in areas perceived to be secure –since trust had been lost for everyone and everything. No longer could X work, live in a family setting and trust friends. X was sleepless and often rushed out of bed claiming some people wanted to take X’s life.
The interventions involved consulting various mental health professions in psychiatry and psychology fields, faiths known for their healing powers, seeking networks of people thought to have cared a lot about X, enactment to review and re-show loving and caring scenes with people said to have victimized X, cognitive-based approaches to re-instate truthfulness or rightfulness of situations from the wrongfully perceived states, subjecting X to new environments free from people held responsible for X’s problem, medical care to assess X’s physiological state, examination of X’s love life, and signing in X to the world of social networking (i.e. facebook.com).
The challenges of children growing in broken families included; the big burden to achieve life goals on their own –with no hope of parental intervention, inability to make wise health decisions, difficulty to ensure personal safety and healthy social relations, generation of high pressure to achieve and to break development barriers (mentally, socially and institutionally), the fear of dropping out of school due to inability to pay fees on his or her own that catapults into failure to concentrate and excel academically in order to attain a good career, inability to solve problems associated with choosing and having healthy relationships, and inability to manage chronic stress that characterizes his or her family life a condition that, potentially, pursues child into adulthood –and in responsible social positions. Also, there are critical challenges of lack of social support coupled with the lack of confidence to seek it –as viable path to building resilience required for the child succeed in life.
It was, then, upon community to proactively change the situation through actively granting political, economic, and socio-cultural and safety rights –to significantly avert insecurity in all its manifestations right from family level. It was concluded from an intervention in the life of an abused and neglected child that the amount of resilience resulting from positive reinforcement from friends, teachers and inspiring leaders or roles models from media products, supported adaptability or coping -and some kind of positive spiritual inclinations greatly catapulted abused and neglected children through traps of childhood suffocation, underachievement, psychopathological enclaves and demeaning parental hostilities.
It was noted that involvement of godly impressions as part of the intervention in addressing psychological implications of child abuse, worked best in situations –where the victim trusted no one –including those who really loved them. However, every intervention counted and complimented each other.
In addition, community interventions at village level, national level, regional and global forces of peace restructuring, reconciliation required actual provision of physical needs to victims of domestic violence –ensuring access to development needs and support information on successful human development –as critical means to control and prevent wars and psychological trauma. From the inner peace of individual family members, society can register sustainable peace.
There is never standard time of recovery; it can be very frustrating if you set your own time. Recovery is very gradual, slow, sometimes showing reversals and stagnation. However, with endurance, optimism and timeless patience, positive results show up.
According to the en.wikipedia.org (2010), Insecurity is a feeling of general unease or nervousness that may be triggered by perceiving of oneself to be unloved, inadequate or worthless (whether in a rational or an irrational manner). A person who is insecure lacks confidence in their own value and capability, lacks trust in themselves or others, or has fears that a present positive state is temporary and will let them down and cause them loss or distress by "going wrong" in the future. Insecurity may cause shyness, paranoia and social withdrawal, or alternatively it may encourage compensatory behaviors such as arrogance, aggression, or bullying. Insecurity is often rooted in a person's childhood years.
Indeed some of the outcomes can be in form of aggressive attitudes, fears, anxieties, and broken ambitions –which later go behavioral in form of acts like substance abuse, irrational decision making, forming socially dangerous alliances or relationships (as means to “address” personal insecurities), registering underachievement in all or selected aspects of life, concerns of anti-social personality disorders, problems associated with authoritative and abusive parenting, poor role-modeling along the path to becoming future parents, high levels of crime and prostitution (and its associated problems), and violence in homes and in the wider society –all of which are true manifestation of structural violence with roots right in the family.
Incidentally, some of the products from such families attain high social positions and, so, society begins to meet the costs. Such (products) are generated from broken families because of the conditions dictated by the negative past.
A 2005 national (US) study of psychiatric disorders revealed the origins of childhood anger –which included rejection by peers and siblings, parental anger, marital conflicts, low self-esteem, difficulty in trusting, separation and divorce, poor body image and academic difficulties (Fitzgibbons P., 2005).
Family and individual members in it cannot be separated from the wider community. Indeed communalism is medicine of its own. The wider community had inexhaustible reserves for the family to access for survival and wellness purposes –which is a foundation for community survival and wellness –in return.
This is so because from the community the family obtained enabling policies, social services, physical and psychological security as well as development opportunities for members’ progress into the future. Such guaranteed security for the family, inner peace for individuals members of the family and, eventually, sustainable community peace.
A Multi-sectoral approach to peaceful building is core in recovery and, thus, ought to be put into consideration in any intervention design. But, families must be very careful with what they sow in a developing child, so that society resources can be channeled to prosperity concerns.
Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
Dishma Inc.
Showing posts with label Child Abuse and Neglect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Child Abuse and Neglect. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Decision Making and Children Health
Decision making referred to a choice reached after verifying available options to pursue a specific cause –which carried consequences (good and bad). It was as a result of a cost-benefit analysis of having children that a prospecting parent made, rather than making decisions based on urges or feelings because they (urges or feelings) did not think apart from causing excitement.
Attachment denoted the nature of the bond between the mother and the child while level of attachment implied the degree of the existing bond between the mother and the baby or child. And circumstances at conception were merging issues during, or at conception while for environment, experts attribute the term environment to virtually everything visible, invisible, practiced, imagined, or reasoned and about life processes –including man himself, or her self –and all interacting and relating in a certain way with each other.
Children in Uganda have been most marginalized with child-friendly health services only limited to referral hospitals. Elsewhere in the country children share facilities and health care services with adults –an indiscriminate administration of health, yet special care for them was paramount. Direct, structural and institutionalized violence too claims the lives and right morals of children. Domestic violence does not only take the life of one of the parents, but also is psychological violence –moreover the worst a human being can experience that, now, becomes a children affair to deal with or shared experience upon observing parents fight.
Cultural environment –which is discriminative according to gender; never recognizes the rights of children –and the reproductive health rights of women have turned out to be a huge and overwhelming social cost –inclusive of HIV spread and under-development. It becomes a way of life that suffocates the rights of women and children as men behave the way they want as suggested by their cultures.
The economic environment disables parent’s ability to further children’s education, or not even at all affording it, yet it is through child education that the future a community is secured with a productive citizenry. The cycle continues from children dropping out of school and opting to marry or succumbing to wrong and untimely choice to conceive, then the burden becomes a product to be handed over from one generation to another –rendering the talk of children rights a dream.
Now, that way of life is one that begins to dictate the quality of life of a children, level of attachment –where insecurities and future behavioral problems begin, irresponsible parenthood, reckless and risky behaviors of a parents as children observe, low or no health seeking as there will be no money and, ultimately, no motivation to adopt a healthy lifestyle –even when health guidelines are issued –which in turn affects children health, leads to broken family situations, or broken marriage relationships –and which as the saying goes, “if elephants fight it is the grass that suffers,” the consequences accruing from broken-family situation hit children hardest as all the anger gets projected to them in form of abuse and neglect.
And in bid to come out of poverty traps using the much respected cultural or traditional remedy systems, children, still, are the soft target like commodities (without life) to offer to the gods. These are innocent children: why all that? What about the plight children in areas once ravaged by war in northern and north eastern Uganda? How about those affected by annual floods and, in recent years, the landslides? Is our scope of children health catering for that? It is from such grounds that families and communities face accountability for in the child’s teen or youthful years. No shall we have a moral fabric in society, violent free generations because society simply ignores the root causes of structural violence –whose origin is quality of care of children right from conception. And who should save the children of Uganda?
Parenting is, thus, a responsibility one finds himself or herself under voluntarily or involuntary. During adolescence, gradual changes that may be cognitive, emotional, biological, physical and social or environment occur. The qualities of changes are influenced by how well decisions are made at different levels of interaction (cognition, instinct or biology, emotional, social and/or natural environment) in relation to one’s sexuality. It all begins at conception –through important stages of birth, special care of newborns, weaning, and child in playful stage, socialization and learning, gender roles or interests, young stardom, youthful period and adulthood.
Becoming a parent was not only an urge, or by accident as some young women say, but an issue to think about critically before making a decision, not even pressure from elders or traditions counted. It was important to look at children as human capital of the future –through integrating health care, nutrition, and early child care services for young children in developing countries. Problems faced by children in early years, such as stunted mental and physical development and lack of preparation for school set the stage for low academic achievement, high drop out, functional illiteracy, lack of productivity in the work force –and even delinquencies and dependency on society (Young M., 1996).
It did not matter what age of pregnancy, but from the time of conception. But for the purposes of this submission care had to start from the time one started developing feeling to become mother or father, because ultimately the quality of decisions made counted in determination child health. Brain studies demonstrated that early years were critical in the development of intelligence, personality, and social behavior before the age of three. Environment, thus, dramatically affected how the infant brain developed –moreover the impact of early childhood programs on personality and behavior became significant and long-lasting. Indeed childhood education reduced social costs, juvenile delinquencies and drug use (Young M., 1996).
Under difficult or challenging parenting environments, HIV/AIDS emerged as an environment problem as young people and parents were pressured to adopt risky behaviors as means to “survive.” According to Tigawalana D. (Sunday Monitor Sept. 19, 2010), Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 constituted young women as most vulnerable –unexplainable by biological factors, but gender inequalities that existed in African society.
More than 5000 women still died every year in child birth across the globe –with the majority of deaths occurring in developing countries –where health systems were weak or non-functional –and health workers scarce (Lirri, Sunday Monitor July 31, 2010).
In the review on orphans and vulnerable children policy, ministry of gender, labor and social development (2004), 38 of the population lived in absolute poverty –constituting 62% of children. And the number of children living below the poverty line was likely to rise due to high fertility rates, HIV/AIDS, other preventable diseases and insecurity. The causes of poverty included limited access to productive assets (especially women), limited utilization of improved production technologies, large families, alcoholism, unemployment, lack of markets, inadequate opportunities for education and lack of information.
“…so many children in need of education but numbers are so overwhelming. If there’s any support your organization can give us, that’s welcome. Government has given due attention to basic education resulting into substantial increase in enrollment. Unfortunately, there has been decline in primary school retention in the past few years due to high drop-outs."
Geoffrey Muzusa,
Community Development Officer, Jinja
Child care was a cost the prospecting parents needed to think about long before deciding to conceive. In fact, child care began at conception. Pregnancy as physiological stress when various body functions of the mother underwent strain, need an excellent died to keep replenishing the body. With ante natal requiring time, rural areas were located several distances from health centers, so it was less likely that affected parents would visit ante natal clinic as advised.
Yet because of the need for PMTCT, to help the mainly teenagers to conceive safely, and those with height related defects (short parents) associated to difficulty delivery as well as to receive counseling on issues related to physiological reactions of the mother, appropriate dressing of mother and child, appropriate diet, preventive measures against malaria, handling of sibling rivalry and children discipline (Ebrahim G.J., 1971).
While appreciating Ebrahim G.J. (1971) understanding of pregnancy as a physiological reaction, one important component ought not to be underestimated –the psychological implications (e.g. anxiety and depression). Successful child care ought to put that into consideration, otherwise the psychological implications potentially turned out to be the most damaging to the child, or baby. Cumberbatch CJ Eta l (2005) revealed that conditions that were, themselves, psychosocial: anxiety disorders (GAD, OCD, panic disorder, PTSD), mood disorders, and schizophrenia, all of which were a background for a disturbed pregnancy would complicate pregnancy denominated high risk for some other reason.
25% of adolescents became pregnant at 19 as by 2006. Fertility was high at 6.9 children per woman (2001). Contraceptive prevalence rate was at 22.8% in 2001 and 23.7% in 2006. Only 14% of the people were employed in wage employment and the rest in self employment in the informal sector. Females constituted majority of the population at 51%, 32% females at the age of 10 were illiterate, 36% reached primary level, and 18% secondary (National Population Policy for Social Transformation and Sustainable Development, 2008). It was, however, impressive to note improvement in decision making by adolescents as by 2006 could conceive at 19 years. With wage employment at 14% and contraceptive use at 23.7%, the situation was getting better. If decision makers embarked on developing the education sector to have more children complete secondary and train in skills formation, then Uganda would be in a pole position to not only improve livelihoods but make child care as a right real.
Broken-family events are a result of extended family system to stand the test of times (twentieth and twenty first century new world order). As the urge to have children arose as traditionally demanded from the ages of 18 and above or less, the new order, instead, required productivity of prospecting parents before, at all, they decided to have children. Having children is thus no longer fashionable, nor marrying until one’s decision was in agreement with the new order.
Those who are there even when economically liberated will tell you that things are not really good while gaining confidence that God will provide. The question of sustainability of care and love within a family set-up is ignored yet critical. It is, therefore, important that policy makers embark on massive gender-conscious literacy or education program intertwined with aspects that address reproductive health concerns, impart life skills, or vocational skills –all of which empower communities with tools of rightful decision making that go as far as influencing health children development, or for that make transform children rights talk from theory to practice. When structural change is registered, no more shall see Bukedde news paper pictures of sacrificed children or domestic violence, among other concerns.
Jacob Waiswa
Graduate Peace and Conflict Studies Program
Makerere University
P.O. Box 7062,
Kampala-Uganda
jwaiswa@arts.mak.ac.ug
Attachment denoted the nature of the bond between the mother and the child while level of attachment implied the degree of the existing bond between the mother and the baby or child. And circumstances at conception were merging issues during, or at conception while for environment, experts attribute the term environment to virtually everything visible, invisible, practiced, imagined, or reasoned and about life processes –including man himself, or her self –and all interacting and relating in a certain way with each other.
Children in Uganda have been most marginalized with child-friendly health services only limited to referral hospitals. Elsewhere in the country children share facilities and health care services with adults –an indiscriminate administration of health, yet special care for them was paramount. Direct, structural and institutionalized violence too claims the lives and right morals of children. Domestic violence does not only take the life of one of the parents, but also is psychological violence –moreover the worst a human being can experience that, now, becomes a children affair to deal with or shared experience upon observing parents fight.
Cultural environment –which is discriminative according to gender; never recognizes the rights of children –and the reproductive health rights of women have turned out to be a huge and overwhelming social cost –inclusive of HIV spread and under-development. It becomes a way of life that suffocates the rights of women and children as men behave the way they want as suggested by their cultures.
The economic environment disables parent’s ability to further children’s education, or not even at all affording it, yet it is through child education that the future a community is secured with a productive citizenry. The cycle continues from children dropping out of school and opting to marry or succumbing to wrong and untimely choice to conceive, then the burden becomes a product to be handed over from one generation to another –rendering the talk of children rights a dream.
Now, that way of life is one that begins to dictate the quality of life of a children, level of attachment –where insecurities and future behavioral problems begin, irresponsible parenthood, reckless and risky behaviors of a parents as children observe, low or no health seeking as there will be no money and, ultimately, no motivation to adopt a healthy lifestyle –even when health guidelines are issued –which in turn affects children health, leads to broken family situations, or broken marriage relationships –and which as the saying goes, “if elephants fight it is the grass that suffers,” the consequences accruing from broken-family situation hit children hardest as all the anger gets projected to them in form of abuse and neglect.
And in bid to come out of poverty traps using the much respected cultural or traditional remedy systems, children, still, are the soft target like commodities (without life) to offer to the gods. These are innocent children: why all that? What about the plight children in areas once ravaged by war in northern and north eastern Uganda? How about those affected by annual floods and, in recent years, the landslides? Is our scope of children health catering for that? It is from such grounds that families and communities face accountability for in the child’s teen or youthful years. No shall we have a moral fabric in society, violent free generations because society simply ignores the root causes of structural violence –whose origin is quality of care of children right from conception. And who should save the children of Uganda?
Parenting is, thus, a responsibility one finds himself or herself under voluntarily or involuntary. During adolescence, gradual changes that may be cognitive, emotional, biological, physical and social or environment occur. The qualities of changes are influenced by how well decisions are made at different levels of interaction (cognition, instinct or biology, emotional, social and/or natural environment) in relation to one’s sexuality. It all begins at conception –through important stages of birth, special care of newborns, weaning, and child in playful stage, socialization and learning, gender roles or interests, young stardom, youthful period and adulthood.
Becoming a parent was not only an urge, or by accident as some young women say, but an issue to think about critically before making a decision, not even pressure from elders or traditions counted. It was important to look at children as human capital of the future –through integrating health care, nutrition, and early child care services for young children in developing countries. Problems faced by children in early years, such as stunted mental and physical development and lack of preparation for school set the stage for low academic achievement, high drop out, functional illiteracy, lack of productivity in the work force –and even delinquencies and dependency on society (Young M., 1996).
It did not matter what age of pregnancy, but from the time of conception. But for the purposes of this submission care had to start from the time one started developing feeling to become mother or father, because ultimately the quality of decisions made counted in determination child health. Brain studies demonstrated that early years were critical in the development of intelligence, personality, and social behavior before the age of three. Environment, thus, dramatically affected how the infant brain developed –moreover the impact of early childhood programs on personality and behavior became significant and long-lasting. Indeed childhood education reduced social costs, juvenile delinquencies and drug use (Young M., 1996).
Under difficult or challenging parenting environments, HIV/AIDS emerged as an environment problem as young people and parents were pressured to adopt risky behaviors as means to “survive.” According to Tigawalana D. (Sunday Monitor Sept. 19, 2010), Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 constituted young women as most vulnerable –unexplainable by biological factors, but gender inequalities that existed in African society.
More than 5000 women still died every year in child birth across the globe –with the majority of deaths occurring in developing countries –where health systems were weak or non-functional –and health workers scarce (Lirri, Sunday Monitor July 31, 2010).
In the review on orphans and vulnerable children policy, ministry of gender, labor and social development (2004), 38 of the population lived in absolute poverty –constituting 62% of children. And the number of children living below the poverty line was likely to rise due to high fertility rates, HIV/AIDS, other preventable diseases and insecurity. The causes of poverty included limited access to productive assets (especially women), limited utilization of improved production technologies, large families, alcoholism, unemployment, lack of markets, inadequate opportunities for education and lack of information.
“…so many children in need of education but numbers are so overwhelming. If there’s any support your organization can give us, that’s welcome. Government has given due attention to basic education resulting into substantial increase in enrollment. Unfortunately, there has been decline in primary school retention in the past few years due to high drop-outs."
Geoffrey Muzusa,
Community Development Officer, Jinja
Child care was a cost the prospecting parents needed to think about long before deciding to conceive. In fact, child care began at conception. Pregnancy as physiological stress when various body functions of the mother underwent strain, need an excellent died to keep replenishing the body. With ante natal requiring time, rural areas were located several distances from health centers, so it was less likely that affected parents would visit ante natal clinic as advised.
Yet because of the need for PMTCT, to help the mainly teenagers to conceive safely, and those with height related defects (short parents) associated to difficulty delivery as well as to receive counseling on issues related to physiological reactions of the mother, appropriate dressing of mother and child, appropriate diet, preventive measures against malaria, handling of sibling rivalry and children discipline (Ebrahim G.J., 1971).
While appreciating Ebrahim G.J. (1971) understanding of pregnancy as a physiological reaction, one important component ought not to be underestimated –the psychological implications (e.g. anxiety and depression). Successful child care ought to put that into consideration, otherwise the psychological implications potentially turned out to be the most damaging to the child, or baby. Cumberbatch CJ Eta l (2005) revealed that conditions that were, themselves, psychosocial: anxiety disorders (GAD, OCD, panic disorder, PTSD), mood disorders, and schizophrenia, all of which were a background for a disturbed pregnancy would complicate pregnancy denominated high risk for some other reason.
25% of adolescents became pregnant at 19 as by 2006. Fertility was high at 6.9 children per woman (2001). Contraceptive prevalence rate was at 22.8% in 2001 and 23.7% in 2006. Only 14% of the people were employed in wage employment and the rest in self employment in the informal sector. Females constituted majority of the population at 51%, 32% females at the age of 10 were illiterate, 36% reached primary level, and 18% secondary (National Population Policy for Social Transformation and Sustainable Development, 2008). It was, however, impressive to note improvement in decision making by adolescents as by 2006 could conceive at 19 years. With wage employment at 14% and contraceptive use at 23.7%, the situation was getting better. If decision makers embarked on developing the education sector to have more children complete secondary and train in skills formation, then Uganda would be in a pole position to not only improve livelihoods but make child care as a right real.
Broken-family events are a result of extended family system to stand the test of times (twentieth and twenty first century new world order). As the urge to have children arose as traditionally demanded from the ages of 18 and above or less, the new order, instead, required productivity of prospecting parents before, at all, they decided to have children. Having children is thus no longer fashionable, nor marrying until one’s decision was in agreement with the new order.
Those who are there even when economically liberated will tell you that things are not really good while gaining confidence that God will provide. The question of sustainability of care and love within a family set-up is ignored yet critical. It is, therefore, important that policy makers embark on massive gender-conscious literacy or education program intertwined with aspects that address reproductive health concerns, impart life skills, or vocational skills –all of which empower communities with tools of rightful decision making that go as far as influencing health children development, or for that make transform children rights talk from theory to practice. When structural change is registered, no more shall see Bukedde news paper pictures of sacrificed children or domestic violence, among other concerns.
Jacob Waiswa
Graduate Peace and Conflict Studies Program
Makerere University
P.O. Box 7062,
Kampala-Uganda
jwaiswa@arts.mak.ac.ug
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
THE REALITIES: MEETING THE EXPECTATIONS OF CHILD EDUCATION AS A RIGHT
Education is commonly perceived as one important and rewarding adventure anyone ought to take. Before the coming of missionaries to Africa, there was the informal type of education prepared for the child; right from birth.
Expectations and responsibilities were outlined for the child through different stages of life –for example; domestic roles, understanding family and clan history, artisan works, farming, hunting, marriage responsibilities, parenthood, social norms, and preparing oneself and others for death.
Then, there came missionary and/or religious instruction, which had isolated places –where children could converge for instructions to become medical workers, lawyers, bankers, office clerks, clerics and teachers.
The earlier (African) education system was compulsory –meant to ensure family and social responsibility, while western type brought in new cultures and marketed them like the best options for Africans.
It even detached communities from their original roles –and Africans began examining themselves more as individuals than community members. And, as of now, not any one can entirely access it, but rather, the privileged few.
With curiosity being an instinctual part of a human being, man’s spiritual-persona and his relentless effort to fill knowledge or spiritual gaps could be fun adventuring in both systems (African tradition and Western traditions). In that way, the different gaps, which might be created under globalization would be filled.
As education disparities rose sharply, more children missed out –because of either poor local attitudes towards classroom-education or strong emphasis for the traditional education system, which emphasized married and family responsibility at some stage. As of 2008 in rural Mayuge, the highest level a child went with education was mostly (over 80%) primary seven –to pave way for marriage and handyman-ship.
It is the successful education modernists, who wanted other community members to make careers through western, and felt African educational arrangement must be broken through initiatives as right to education (western type). In the traditional way, interestingly, it was as though natural going through its educational drills.
In the western type, today, deficits are realized to necessitate the institution of initiatives as education as a right. But, it becomes favorable accessing an all-round education that considers both traditional and western systems –which curiosity cannot hesitate to take on.
But, how ready are Africans to receiving some “strange” lessons from the western education system, as acceptance to homosexuality –with it as alternative sexual lifestyle alongside primary hetero-sexual one?
In some areas of Africa, gay ideology has already taken root and being practiced, while in others like Uganda, it is still alien and being strongly resisted in an attempt to protect cultural and religious positions.
But,then, such would contradictory –having noted that the practice has been in the traditions of Buganda (in the Kings palace) and among some Christians (mainly in the catholic religion), according to history.
Morality to them was another issue. Perhaps, the crusade against gay relationships could focus more on set and desired morals than merely being cultural and religious, since historically both failed to stop gay practice in Buganda in particular and Uganda in general.
It, indeed, could mean having to form expected or standardized social values and behaviors that provides for an African position on gay proposals and practices, and have them approved by people’s parliament.
And about how morality is being defined to those who need to know, must be made clear and explained to support the set moral grounds –upon which gay culture would have been made illegal. Otherwise, human curiosity will continuously be defining and re-defining morality in its own way –and begging for what it finally considers morally right.
In rural Mayuge District, parents –who made successful careers in agro-business, found little “substance” in having to take their children to school. Since the children have grown up seeing family wealth being generated through farming, carpentry, building and transportation business, they would look out to such economic activities, as well.
Following the suppressed feelings about education as an avenue to success, very poor attitudes towards it would contagiously spread through families to communities, as would be for the generations to come.
The children, on top of the conflict between educational pressure and resilience, developed “very poor” attitudes towards seals off their mindsets, so much that it could take a big community (multi-dimensional) intervention to help reverse the then “bad” community trend.
The disabled children, on the other hand, get either the worst audience or simply lack a voice that addresses their educational challenges. Deep in rural areas, they chronically face stigma and abject lack of attention –as though life imprisonment to them by the communities in which they live.
Poverty turns hopes of caregivers having their disabled children get meaningful educational life deem. Besides, their specially-tailored services are limited to towns such that between rural areas and town are several miles –which make it too expensive for a peasant family to travel.
In recent times, education has been categorized as a need that must be matched with other human needs and priority ones taken. As the case for most Ugandans today, if one cannot find food, shelters, clothing and life insurance, he or she could find education as a secondary need or something that has to be relaxed for what is basic.
To some, in the view of others focusing on basic needs, it could seem as though a deliberate vote for ignorance. Doing so, however, would so much of mockery. It is only the very poor, who could best understand the basic needs point.
Now, with roaming poverty, affected communities will view education as a privilege that is hard to attain. Even with universal primary education (UPE) and universal secondary education (USE) programs in place; lack of clothing, child-starvation and inability to concentrate on learning could only lead to subsequent program failures –as policy-makers sit in their comfort zones assuming all is well.
Rather than aggressive and continuous monitoring and evaluation of the program, the boneless politicking on how successful it could have been, coupled with corruption cancer –soon overshadows its progress cyclically as more funding is injected.
Along with domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, matters worsen for child-education in as far as acceleration of failure rate of the program is concerned. Of course, there is a big question of quality education; where it can be found and its affordability –to determine actual right to and benefit from it.
What children see as negative outcomes (as unemployment) from their elders’ education accomplishments could lead to huge discouragement –with it (education) having failed to transform them into responsible citizens, to address real life or community needs, and seem more of time wasted at school than an investment or an asset.
As parents begin to view education as reliability and a source of poverty, they could get tempted to phase out the obligation to educate their children in favor of the much needed economic solutions like investing in a family farm project, hotel businesses or any other profitable business venture.
Because of that, child education could cease to be a right and become a burden, which families and/or communities will want be excused from and, as a strongest appeal to whoever viewed it the contrary.
Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
www.situationhealthanalysis.blogspot.com
Expectations and responsibilities were outlined for the child through different stages of life –for example; domestic roles, understanding family and clan history, artisan works, farming, hunting, marriage responsibilities, parenthood, social norms, and preparing oneself and others for death.
Then, there came missionary and/or religious instruction, which had isolated places –where children could converge for instructions to become medical workers, lawyers, bankers, office clerks, clerics and teachers.
The earlier (African) education system was compulsory –meant to ensure family and social responsibility, while western type brought in new cultures and marketed them like the best options for Africans.
It even detached communities from their original roles –and Africans began examining themselves more as individuals than community members. And, as of now, not any one can entirely access it, but rather, the privileged few.
With curiosity being an instinctual part of a human being, man’s spiritual-persona and his relentless effort to fill knowledge or spiritual gaps could be fun adventuring in both systems (African tradition and Western traditions). In that way, the different gaps, which might be created under globalization would be filled.
As education disparities rose sharply, more children missed out –because of either poor local attitudes towards classroom-education or strong emphasis for the traditional education system, which emphasized married and family responsibility at some stage. As of 2008 in rural Mayuge, the highest level a child went with education was mostly (over 80%) primary seven –to pave way for marriage and handyman-ship.
It is the successful education modernists, who wanted other community members to make careers through western, and felt African educational arrangement must be broken through initiatives as right to education (western type). In the traditional way, interestingly, it was as though natural going through its educational drills.
In the western type, today, deficits are realized to necessitate the institution of initiatives as education as a right. But, it becomes favorable accessing an all-round education that considers both traditional and western systems –which curiosity cannot hesitate to take on.
But, how ready are Africans to receiving some “strange” lessons from the western education system, as acceptance to homosexuality –with it as alternative sexual lifestyle alongside primary hetero-sexual one?
In some areas of Africa, gay ideology has already taken root and being practiced, while in others like Uganda, it is still alien and being strongly resisted in an attempt to protect cultural and religious positions.
But,then, such would contradictory –having noted that the practice has been in the traditions of Buganda (in the Kings palace) and among some Christians (mainly in the catholic religion), according to history.
Morality to them was another issue. Perhaps, the crusade against gay relationships could focus more on set and desired morals than merely being cultural and religious, since historically both failed to stop gay practice in Buganda in particular and Uganda in general.
It, indeed, could mean having to form expected or standardized social values and behaviors that provides for an African position on gay proposals and practices, and have them approved by people’s parliament.
And about how morality is being defined to those who need to know, must be made clear and explained to support the set moral grounds –upon which gay culture would have been made illegal. Otherwise, human curiosity will continuously be defining and re-defining morality in its own way –and begging for what it finally considers morally right.
In rural Mayuge District, parents –who made successful careers in agro-business, found little “substance” in having to take their children to school. Since the children have grown up seeing family wealth being generated through farming, carpentry, building and transportation business, they would look out to such economic activities, as well.
Following the suppressed feelings about education as an avenue to success, very poor attitudes towards it would contagiously spread through families to communities, as would be for the generations to come.
The children, on top of the conflict between educational pressure and resilience, developed “very poor” attitudes towards seals off their mindsets, so much that it could take a big community (multi-dimensional) intervention to help reverse the then “bad” community trend.
The disabled children, on the other hand, get either the worst audience or simply lack a voice that addresses their educational challenges. Deep in rural areas, they chronically face stigma and abject lack of attention –as though life imprisonment to them by the communities in which they live.
Poverty turns hopes of caregivers having their disabled children get meaningful educational life deem. Besides, their specially-tailored services are limited to towns such that between rural areas and town are several miles –which make it too expensive for a peasant family to travel.
In recent times, education has been categorized as a need that must be matched with other human needs and priority ones taken. As the case for most Ugandans today, if one cannot find food, shelters, clothing and life insurance, he or she could find education as a secondary need or something that has to be relaxed for what is basic.
To some, in the view of others focusing on basic needs, it could seem as though a deliberate vote for ignorance. Doing so, however, would so much of mockery. It is only the very poor, who could best understand the basic needs point.
Now, with roaming poverty, affected communities will view education as a privilege that is hard to attain. Even with universal primary education (UPE) and universal secondary education (USE) programs in place; lack of clothing, child-starvation and inability to concentrate on learning could only lead to subsequent program failures –as policy-makers sit in their comfort zones assuming all is well.
Rather than aggressive and continuous monitoring and evaluation of the program, the boneless politicking on how successful it could have been, coupled with corruption cancer –soon overshadows its progress cyclically as more funding is injected.
Along with domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, matters worsen for child-education in as far as acceleration of failure rate of the program is concerned. Of course, there is a big question of quality education; where it can be found and its affordability –to determine actual right to and benefit from it.
What children see as negative outcomes (as unemployment) from their elders’ education accomplishments could lead to huge discouragement –with it (education) having failed to transform them into responsible citizens, to address real life or community needs, and seem more of time wasted at school than an investment or an asset.
As parents begin to view education as reliability and a source of poverty, they could get tempted to phase out the obligation to educate their children in favor of the much needed economic solutions like investing in a family farm project, hotel businesses or any other profitable business venture.
Because of that, child education could cease to be a right and become a burden, which families and/or communities will want be excused from and, as a strongest appeal to whoever viewed it the contrary.
Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
www.situationhealthanalysis.blogspot.com
Friday, January 23, 2009
MANAGING SABOTEURS' ACTIONS AND SABOTAGE SITUATIONS
Saboteurs, according to wikipedia.org are people whose deliberate actions are aimed at weakening perceived enemy and oppressor -through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and destruction. Saboteurs can be classified in war terms as enemies or spies -whose core intention, like terrorist, is to destroy.
Indeed, if one had saboteurs around himself or herself, it would be a kind of war or struggle -whose duration can be had to calculate. Instead, it could more of just commitment to the relentless fight for self-liberation, or for others.
Some people might choose to call it psychological warfare (imagined attack or imagined planned attack). Also called mind game (s) between individuals and groups, or even nations -which could be followed by potentially injurious actions targeting their victims.
And some say it is the most decisive kind of war, since after disabling a victim, he or she retains life, but with untold trauma, as well. Actually, if not treated, the victim could lose himself to insanity.
The other kind of war is that involving physical confrontation. It might be an armed or an unarmed confrontation. An armed is that involving gun shoot-outs, metal bar or any other, but lethal weapon, while unarmed considers fist and kick-administration to physically harm another person, or other people.
It is important that individuals under constant acts sabotage from sadists form defense and escape values that clearly define their goals and relationship with others -along the path of positive individual growth and development.
In that disregard, appropriate ways of interaction and behavior will be developed not only to fail saboteurs' dangerous missions, but to reduce or control mental and physical damage. Lowly, animals have varied ways of dealing with enemies -like being confrontational, adapting or prisonisation, and retreating or relocating.
It is a trying moment -which requires highest possible adaptation abilities. These can be acquired through training, socialization with toughed-up people or through successful experiences of hardships caused by toxic environment or people.
Alternatively, others would be so focussed on their values that no attention to saboteurs' actions. Making them as of no meaning -during the time of sabotage -especially that is psychological.
It will not be very long when, they (saboteurs) begin to look foolish and retreat filled with shame, or asking themselves why they were doing such a thing -especially without attention-reward being given to them. It is a non-violent strategy proposed by the humanists , which calls on the oppressed not to acknowledge evil deeds of the aggressor.
Unfortunately, not many can keep off their attention to the worst provocation. They will want to revenge -which later turns out to be the long-awaited game for the aggressor, now that attention has been given.
Stress could be encountered whilst under too much pressure to deal saboteurs' distracting actions, and the fact that one might be surrounded by insults, acts to deprive and deface. At times, it can be so acute that everything as planned get stalled, and at the same time down with stress-related illnesses. This could interfere with normal work and social life, and, of course; general well-being.
Whilst in that situation, it would be important to successfully manage stress and keep track with life normal life routines, be healthy, able to work and overcome nasty people. Any moment one fell sick, would be a tea party and a kind of victory for the saboteurs.
They (saboteurs) would laugh their heads off. Unless portrayed as a camouflage to them, one's weakness should never be showed. If they were, saboteurs' position would be strengthed the more.
These people do anything to inflict pain on whoever they choose as their target. Their different forms of hurting might be to defame, hate campaign, attracting others into the hurting or suffocating business against their victim -while surprisingly devoting entire day's time on designing insults, negative wishes and actions, or pray for calamity to befall their victim.
The climax could be making plans to take away life of a person or people in target, and eventually, execute the plan. To them pain felt by perceived “enemy” would be their happiness or satisfaction -to keep reinforcing their actions.
The same reinforcement could encourage them to continuously fail progress of others, to damage their reputation, to grab only assets possessed and remorselessly destroy victim's good character developed over years.
In dealing with such troublesome persons, a survival, interaction or relationship-boundary management and achievement plan, or as a combination, ought to be pooled and pursued. For example, finding caring friends -to safely oversee one's sensitive assets, to provide safe food to eat and water to drink, or find trustworthy eating places, to share one's troubles with, to derive inspirations and encouragement, among others. Meanwhile, at personal level, the victimized person could make it a habit to do physical exercises -to help the body cope with pressure.
Making use an existing network of friends created over time -to support one's cause in terms of living-space sharing, discover career development opportunities, share and strength one's vision -through moral support given by the friends' network, and many other ways.
Doing so, would help one realize cherished peace and experience relief or reduced pressure, elevated self-esteem and confidence in pursuit of his or her goals, above the negative forces and subsequently escape the enslavement.
In the process of achieving one's goal, expectations must be known -like necessity to struggle and painfully accept to maneuver through the success path -regardless of the size of the “dragons” along. A lot of patience would be needed, and time bought to have the toxic situation overhauled.
Of course, so often, there can be set backs and tears of a suffering man or woman, but at the same time, one has to reassure himself or herself that through belief, hardworking, mental and action-focussed pattern, one runs several miles away from his or her troubles.
Through activities like meditation, physical exercises, religious or faith-related activities, creating healthy social circles, and channeling one's time on positive aspects of life, giving the toxic people space to reduce possible mental and physical damage or their recur.
One must set himself or herself into strength mode and continue to grow that way, with determination, self-belief and self-assurance that all will be fine. A kind of self-resuscitation, which requires putting an idea under frequent practice -to finally be there as planned.
Coming out of the constantly provoking distracters of wellness, achievement, and the time-wasting on dealing with toxic people, requires identifying one's abilities that could foster success, developing self-belief and beginning the long walk to trouble-relieving success.
To do that, the victim must visualize, realize and recognize that it is a fact that they must save themselves from the toxic social environment and acknowledge that current conditions will change for the better. Then, a self-rescue plan could follow and subsequent change actions -integrating career development and relocating oneself in a better development-enabling area.
It is these that positively prove the real worth of oneself past progress-saboteurs, rather than languish in misery caused by the toxic individuals. The new standards set would be geared to redefining oneself -towards achievement and generate motivating power to come out of the oppressive chains and attain harmony and peace in life.
Personal hobbies and interests would be the closest “ally” to make use of. These help take one's time away from the distractions of toxic people -as well as help reduce the emotional and mental damage that could have penetrated deep into the self.
Similarly, making social contributions through one's hobbies and interests could help undo their negative criticisms and plans. They too could help market the best of one's personality to the community. In the area of career development it could as well be a big plus, as one might identify a talent to exploit or even attract employers.
It would be important, as well, that one creates partnerships in the course of developing career goals. They could, in most cases, be of the type -who have been the the field longer. Such partnerships may be with old friends to begin with, much as good approach to strangers too yield excellent partnerships.
After some time of testing ones abilities and competencies with partners or business friends, further introductions could be made of ones accomplishments to organizations and firms that may need the services, skills or knowledge. But adding problems to already existing ones must, with immediate, be minimized. Some strangers might rake any little achievement so far.
Networks too could be invested into in terms of time, and if need be -spend money. Much of the information one lacked would with network members. They could be effectively utilized, when searching for opportunities out there -through strategic interactions, chats or otherwise, and conclusions would be made -as to where opportunities for personal development are.
Also necessary, would be; seeking any chance available of furthering one's education or strengthening curriculum vitae -through experiential learning. They could be either short term or long-term training -aimed at acquiring new skills. As a consequence, one's goal of positive personal experiences, and of peace and harmony would be enabled.
An opportunity got from one's social networks could be rather act as a ladders to higher career steps, than calling it the end of career-goal pursuit. It could be habit for one to send job applications elsewhere and everywhere in relentless attempts towards positive changes in his or her life. As career authors put it, “the moment one enters an organizations, he o she soon makes possible attempts to exit,” which indeed is a true reflection of an ambitious person.
For one to swiftly move through a career development course successfully, he or she must consult with most relevant information and resource persons around. And, be the kind, who has concretized a reading culture.
Important, also, would be the act of sharing one's vision with friends -who are positive about life. This could help greatly strength mentally one's commitment to the set plan for change actions, give confidence and enhance more creativity around obstacles in the path to one's goal (s).
Friends' compliments, encouragement and advices or constructive criticisms would be the source of positive personal attributes. It would be doing injustice to oneself, if helpful criticism was not taken for self correction. Most of it might be re-directing or suggesting him or her to re-think and get onto the right path.
Sparing time for prayer and/or meditation would be another avenue to consider along one's path to positive personal growth and development, and liberate oneself from the infringes of poverty, dehumanization and misery. Saboteurs, like any life challenge or obstacle, could stall or delay progress and toxic to individual survival, but manageable -if one really knew what he or she wanted in life.
Indeed, if one had saboteurs around himself or herself, it would be a kind of war or struggle -whose duration can be had to calculate. Instead, it could more of just commitment to the relentless fight for self-liberation, or for others.
Some people might choose to call it psychological warfare (imagined attack or imagined planned attack). Also called mind game (s) between individuals and groups, or even nations -which could be followed by potentially injurious actions targeting their victims.
And some say it is the most decisive kind of war, since after disabling a victim, he or she retains life, but with untold trauma, as well. Actually, if not treated, the victim could lose himself to insanity.
The other kind of war is that involving physical confrontation. It might be an armed or an unarmed confrontation. An armed is that involving gun shoot-outs, metal bar or any other, but lethal weapon, while unarmed considers fist and kick-administration to physically harm another person, or other people.
It is important that individuals under constant acts sabotage from sadists form defense and escape values that clearly define their goals and relationship with others -along the path of positive individual growth and development.
In that disregard, appropriate ways of interaction and behavior will be developed not only to fail saboteurs' dangerous missions, but to reduce or control mental and physical damage. Lowly, animals have varied ways of dealing with enemies -like being confrontational, adapting or prisonisation, and retreating or relocating.
It is a trying moment -which requires highest possible adaptation abilities. These can be acquired through training, socialization with toughed-up people or through successful experiences of hardships caused by toxic environment or people.
Alternatively, others would be so focussed on their values that no attention to saboteurs' actions. Making them as of no meaning -during the time of sabotage -especially that is psychological.
It will not be very long when, they (saboteurs) begin to look foolish and retreat filled with shame, or asking themselves why they were doing such a thing -especially without attention-reward being given to them. It is a non-violent strategy proposed by the humanists , which calls on the oppressed not to acknowledge evil deeds of the aggressor.
Unfortunately, not many can keep off their attention to the worst provocation. They will want to revenge -which later turns out to be the long-awaited game for the aggressor, now that attention has been given.
Stress could be encountered whilst under too much pressure to deal saboteurs' distracting actions, and the fact that one might be surrounded by insults, acts to deprive and deface. At times, it can be so acute that everything as planned get stalled, and at the same time down with stress-related illnesses. This could interfere with normal work and social life, and, of course; general well-being.
Whilst in that situation, it would be important to successfully manage stress and keep track with life normal life routines, be healthy, able to work and overcome nasty people. Any moment one fell sick, would be a tea party and a kind of victory for the saboteurs.
They (saboteurs) would laugh their heads off. Unless portrayed as a camouflage to them, one's weakness should never be showed. If they were, saboteurs' position would be strengthed the more.
These people do anything to inflict pain on whoever they choose as their target. Their different forms of hurting might be to defame, hate campaign, attracting others into the hurting or suffocating business against their victim -while surprisingly devoting entire day's time on designing insults, negative wishes and actions, or pray for calamity to befall their victim.
The climax could be making plans to take away life of a person or people in target, and eventually, execute the plan. To them pain felt by perceived “enemy” would be their happiness or satisfaction -to keep reinforcing their actions.
The same reinforcement could encourage them to continuously fail progress of others, to damage their reputation, to grab only assets possessed and remorselessly destroy victim's good character developed over years.
In dealing with such troublesome persons, a survival, interaction or relationship-boundary management and achievement plan, or as a combination, ought to be pooled and pursued. For example, finding caring friends -to safely oversee one's sensitive assets, to provide safe food to eat and water to drink, or find trustworthy eating places, to share one's troubles with, to derive inspirations and encouragement, among others. Meanwhile, at personal level, the victimized person could make it a habit to do physical exercises -to help the body cope with pressure.
Making use an existing network of friends created over time -to support one's cause in terms of living-space sharing, discover career development opportunities, share and strength one's vision -through moral support given by the friends' network, and many other ways.
Doing so, would help one realize cherished peace and experience relief or reduced pressure, elevated self-esteem and confidence in pursuit of his or her goals, above the negative forces and subsequently escape the enslavement.
In the process of achieving one's goal, expectations must be known -like necessity to struggle and painfully accept to maneuver through the success path -regardless of the size of the “dragons” along. A lot of patience would be needed, and time bought to have the toxic situation overhauled.
Of course, so often, there can be set backs and tears of a suffering man or woman, but at the same time, one has to reassure himself or herself that through belief, hardworking, mental and action-focussed pattern, one runs several miles away from his or her troubles.
Through activities like meditation, physical exercises, religious or faith-related activities, creating healthy social circles, and channeling one's time on positive aspects of life, giving the toxic people space to reduce possible mental and physical damage or their recur.
One must set himself or herself into strength mode and continue to grow that way, with determination, self-belief and self-assurance that all will be fine. A kind of self-resuscitation, which requires putting an idea under frequent practice -to finally be there as planned.
Coming out of the constantly provoking distracters of wellness, achievement, and the time-wasting on dealing with toxic people, requires identifying one's abilities that could foster success, developing self-belief and beginning the long walk to trouble-relieving success.
To do that, the victim must visualize, realize and recognize that it is a fact that they must save themselves from the toxic social environment and acknowledge that current conditions will change for the better. Then, a self-rescue plan could follow and subsequent change actions -integrating career development and relocating oneself in a better development-enabling area.
It is these that positively prove the real worth of oneself past progress-saboteurs, rather than languish in misery caused by the toxic individuals. The new standards set would be geared to redefining oneself -towards achievement and generate motivating power to come out of the oppressive chains and attain harmony and peace in life.
Personal hobbies and interests would be the closest “ally” to make use of. These help take one's time away from the distractions of toxic people -as well as help reduce the emotional and mental damage that could have penetrated deep into the self.
Similarly, making social contributions through one's hobbies and interests could help undo their negative criticisms and plans. They too could help market the best of one's personality to the community. In the area of career development it could as well be a big plus, as one might identify a talent to exploit or even attract employers.
It would be important, as well, that one creates partnerships in the course of developing career goals. They could, in most cases, be of the type -who have been the the field longer. Such partnerships may be with old friends to begin with, much as good approach to strangers too yield excellent partnerships.
After some time of testing ones abilities and competencies with partners or business friends, further introductions could be made of ones accomplishments to organizations and firms that may need the services, skills or knowledge. But adding problems to already existing ones must, with immediate, be minimized. Some strangers might rake any little achievement so far.
Networks too could be invested into in terms of time, and if need be -spend money. Much of the information one lacked would with network members. They could be effectively utilized, when searching for opportunities out there -through strategic interactions, chats or otherwise, and conclusions would be made -as to where opportunities for personal development are.
Also necessary, would be; seeking any chance available of furthering one's education or strengthening curriculum vitae -through experiential learning. They could be either short term or long-term training -aimed at acquiring new skills. As a consequence, one's goal of positive personal experiences, and of peace and harmony would be enabled.
An opportunity got from one's social networks could be rather act as a ladders to higher career steps, than calling it the end of career-goal pursuit. It could be habit for one to send job applications elsewhere and everywhere in relentless attempts towards positive changes in his or her life. As career authors put it, “the moment one enters an organizations, he o she soon makes possible attempts to exit,” which indeed is a true reflection of an ambitious person.
For one to swiftly move through a career development course successfully, he or she must consult with most relevant information and resource persons around. And, be the kind, who has concretized a reading culture.
Important, also, would be the act of sharing one's vision with friends -who are positive about life. This could help greatly strength mentally one's commitment to the set plan for change actions, give confidence and enhance more creativity around obstacles in the path to one's goal (s).
Friends' compliments, encouragement and advices or constructive criticisms would be the source of positive personal attributes. It would be doing injustice to oneself, if helpful criticism was not taken for self correction. Most of it might be re-directing or suggesting him or her to re-think and get onto the right path.
Sparing time for prayer and/or meditation would be another avenue to consider along one's path to positive personal growth and development, and liberate oneself from the infringes of poverty, dehumanization and misery. Saboteurs, like any life challenge or obstacle, could stall or delay progress and toxic to individual survival, but manageable -if one really knew what he or she wanted in life.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
PARENTHOOD: DOES IT EXIST TODAY?
ARE PARENTS DOING THEIR JOB?
Parenting is one of the most demanding stages in life –in terms of time, money and energy. Planning is, there fore, critical at this stage. This is so, because many attain the status either very early or too late in life, which could lead to unhealthy implications. Some people, because of their career orientation, could find themselves having to forego child bearing until they meet their career goals.
With unpredictable changes resulting from hormonal activity, it could be true that one of the parents was either confronted by menopause earlier than expected –may be, this time, it is at the ages between 35 and 40 or perfectionism was to blame for letting her take so long to find the right person –with whom to share child-bearing responsibilities. There are, however, some cases of people -who skip parenthood because of fertility problems.
Obviously, socio-cultural expectations would be; that one gets children to allow continuity of a clan or community, as an investment for care at old age, for companionship, to gain satisfaction upon fulfillment the goal of becoming a parent -and from successfully raising them.
Having children, whilst a teenager, is indeed, very challenging -as it might come with a number of risks. There could be, for example; possible contraction of STDs, financial difficulties, infant death and hard deliveries -because at that stage, the pelvic region may not be well developed -and lack of parental care -yet a child would need a natural environment to develop -under which care, nurturance, psychological security, supportive and loving are part.
Other dangers could be estrangement of family, school and social relations. Their expectation could have been that she or he is of the right age to have a child. Planning and decision making is, therefore, essential. It could carry about four basic questions –regarding when to marry, when to have children, how many, and with whom.
Parenthood has biological, socio-cultural, economic and political connection –all of which could be part of planning and decision-making. The aspects would guide a parenthood candidate in, fore example; safe sexual health processes and number of children, facilitating child learning and skills formation, and preparing the child for citizenship roles.
But unlike in the period before 1980s, modern times have made parenting a little harder choice to make. At most, it takes away the mutual roles that child and parent would have to create a natural bond. Today, however, ideal parents would try to balance work roles and family to help give knowledge and kills -relevant to their developmental stage.
Divorce and separation, at another moment, could be a turning point in the life of a child. In absence of one parent, communication between the missing parent and child would be remote. As a result, doors would be for substance abuse, conduct disorders, depression, low self-esteem and conduct problems -all besieging the same child.
In addition, step parents, reportedly, tend to be more hostile to the children as compared to step fathers (Fine and Kurdek, 1992). Yet children’s negative experiences have been associated with low grades at school (Dubois, Eitel and Feiner, 1994).
Moreover, the continuous conflicts and child’s negative experience too detaches him or her from social and family values. Outside the family, it would be the schools and society to suffer from juvenile delinquencies.
Normally, it would be at puberty that a child gets the full independence after gradual phases of being oriented out of the family shell. Unfortunately, by this time they would be still economically dependent on their parents. This interferes with the naturally communicated independence –from the biological point of view.
In spite of this, parents do carry out strict supervision of the child –which turns out to be a source of conflict. Meanwhile, the conflict causes terror times for both parent and child characterized by greater stress –amidst uncertainty, and discord.
A parent with low education would not easily understand child’s biological, psychological and social changes. Instead, she or he could choose to batter the child -until either of the two kills another. Moreover, they tend to be more hostile to children as compared to educated one. Yet positive exchanges between parent and child and health behaviors are crucial for successful parenthood.
However, there could be some people, who are not worthy being parents or should not have become one in the first place -regardless of parental age. They act irresponsibly, as if they only had children by accident! Actually, they deserve strongest punishment possible for destroying child’s future, earliest. Perhaps, in future, we could have mandatory interviews for prospective parents.
To note is that parent’s toxic actions towards the child could adversely affect child's physical, mental, academic and social development. In fact, it is another form of murder, this time round, called identity assassination.
All these could be occurring at the same time -when the child is facing both adolescent and multi-faceted torture from the parent. They could carry the forms of negative child labeling, verbal insults, bullying, threats to withdraw support, passive contributions to child’s development, putting forward negative wishes, suffocating child development etcetera.
A child without necessary support systems, lost self-esteem, depression, anxiety, suicide impulses, drowned in acts of substance abuse, disrupts societal peace, who under extreme circumstances, could commit suicide or cause lunacy -brings forward a serious case that should must never be taken lightly.
Such parents usually have grave lack of parental skills, while others have prejudicial backgrounds. With them, their child rearing styles tend to be worst. Giving a person, as that, a child to parent would be as good as throwing the kid to a tiger -to devour.
It is usually authoritarian –characterized by constant verbal and physical assault. Communities are usually reluctance to intervene, unless serious action murder of either child or parent -radiating from long-term silent conflicts, occurs.
Given the serious consequences resultant from bad parenting, some parents could be as good as not parents. They would not deserve the honor of parenthood. It is, rather, sheer mistake. Whether biological parent or not, there would be no relationship at all. Thus, the abused child would be as good as an orphan.
Characteristics of abusive parents could be; acting as though competitors (with child), bullying, being insensitive to children’s needs, sadism, verbal and physical aggression, maiming and suffocating child's developmental channels, arguing rather than discussing issues with child, and discouraging rather than encouraging or supporting positive attributes of a child, carrying out divide and rule policy at home –and amazingly creating rivalry and unhealthy competition among children.
Wandega (Wednesday September 10, 2008, pg 12), compared the times of African traditions and today –regarding protection of children against parental abuse. According to him, modern day parents have lost it all. There are many cases of child abuse, and pornographic material that at display every other day in Uganda.
Since they cannot easily apologize to abused children, parents become insecure (as if expecting revenge) -and see no more use in giving further support to the child. The conflict, then, could have reached so far that mending it seems impossible.
The result to it is open refusal to support the child in his developmental endeavors, become unemotional, and often use negative labels against the child with intentions to destroy (if not killing person himself) child’s personality.
Moreover, because the child has no person to talk to, or simply banned from discussions with people outside the toxic family, the child could develop suicide impulses or even carry it out.
The abused child’s day never includes resting. He or she partly acts as house-boy or house girl -yet he has to be at school, to play, do assignments and engage in entertaining activities.
Going to a boarding school could be the only escape route, though some people would wish that home problems, are solved therein. Firstly, child human development issues must have stakeholders in it –that include; schools, NGOs and even government. Secondly, the first step in mental health intervention, child must be relocated from the pathologic area.
For such children, there no more chance of ever relating to parents positively, and with evidence that it is a gone case. It would mean helping a child develop new lifestyle, as soon as possible that helps him or her to recover from the long history of family trauma, to gain self-esteem, and ultimately, facilitate him or her to get surrounded by nice people –who show care and love.
On whether children go to boarding schools or not, it is a matter of time. A boarding school for the developing child would be most suited at puberty. This is at that time that the biological clock indicates need for independence and developing of social relations.
But, before that, there must be informal sessions for the child at home to make him or her realize the changes going on in his or her body and those they are about to face. This could be, then, accompanied by imparting of skills to help child (or children) successfully move about the puberty challenges.
Children, for example, would need to learn and practice value-based skills, like decision-making, assertive skills, negotiation skills, goal setting, effective communication, and life planning skills. In addition, knowledge of adolescent changes, and contraceptive use could follow suit. These could act as reference points in the face of any developmental challenge.
The changing times require parents to mix well different roles. For example; having to attend to work and be at home -to instill morals and values in children, and monitor those “who qualify” to be in boarding school. Child-care, being a hectic role could be a joint venture between parents and schools. At one stage, society could come in.
It is, by doing so, that the parent would be able to track development progress of the child and gain confidence upon having knowledge of how children are fairing. Any parent, who never works with schools in child development, is nothing, but a stranger to his own child.
Interestingly, the lazy parent puts all the trust in the kid, expecting him to report what transpired at school -while sometimes claiming to be busy. But this would be the best moment for the children attain the highest pick of freedom to experiment even the “no fly zones” -like; misappropriation of school fees, report card forging and abandoning or dropping out of school without notice of the parent.
From such parental ill behaviors, wouldn’t we be nurturing potential corrupt government officials for the future? From the above scenarios, surely, occurrence of many other bad consequences of any kind would not be a surprise. The question would, then, be: what role, as a parent, did you play?
Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
+256774336277
waiswajacobo@yahoo.co.uk
Parenting is one of the most demanding stages in life –in terms of time, money and energy. Planning is, there fore, critical at this stage. This is so, because many attain the status either very early or too late in life, which could lead to unhealthy implications. Some people, because of their career orientation, could find themselves having to forego child bearing until they meet their career goals.
With unpredictable changes resulting from hormonal activity, it could be true that one of the parents was either confronted by menopause earlier than expected –may be, this time, it is at the ages between 35 and 40 or perfectionism was to blame for letting her take so long to find the right person –with whom to share child-bearing responsibilities. There are, however, some cases of people -who skip parenthood because of fertility problems.
Obviously, socio-cultural expectations would be; that one gets children to allow continuity of a clan or community, as an investment for care at old age, for companionship, to gain satisfaction upon fulfillment the goal of becoming a parent -and from successfully raising them.
Having children, whilst a teenager, is indeed, very challenging -as it might come with a number of risks. There could be, for example; possible contraction of STDs, financial difficulties, infant death and hard deliveries -because at that stage, the pelvic region may not be well developed -and lack of parental care -yet a child would need a natural environment to develop -under which care, nurturance, psychological security, supportive and loving are part.
Other dangers could be estrangement of family, school and social relations. Their expectation could have been that she or he is of the right age to have a child. Planning and decision making is, therefore, essential. It could carry about four basic questions –regarding when to marry, when to have children, how many, and with whom.
Parenthood has biological, socio-cultural, economic and political connection –all of which could be part of planning and decision-making. The aspects would guide a parenthood candidate in, fore example; safe sexual health processes and number of children, facilitating child learning and skills formation, and preparing the child for citizenship roles.
But unlike in the period before 1980s, modern times have made parenting a little harder choice to make. At most, it takes away the mutual roles that child and parent would have to create a natural bond. Today, however, ideal parents would try to balance work roles and family to help give knowledge and kills -relevant to their developmental stage.
Divorce and separation, at another moment, could be a turning point in the life of a child. In absence of one parent, communication between the missing parent and child would be remote. As a result, doors would be for substance abuse, conduct disorders, depression, low self-esteem and conduct problems -all besieging the same child.
In addition, step parents, reportedly, tend to be more hostile to the children as compared to step fathers (Fine and Kurdek, 1992). Yet children’s negative experiences have been associated with low grades at school (Dubois, Eitel and Feiner, 1994).
Moreover, the continuous conflicts and child’s negative experience too detaches him or her from social and family values. Outside the family, it would be the schools and society to suffer from juvenile delinquencies.
Normally, it would be at puberty that a child gets the full independence after gradual phases of being oriented out of the family shell. Unfortunately, by this time they would be still economically dependent on their parents. This interferes with the naturally communicated independence –from the biological point of view.
In spite of this, parents do carry out strict supervision of the child –which turns out to be a source of conflict. Meanwhile, the conflict causes terror times for both parent and child characterized by greater stress –amidst uncertainty, and discord.
A parent with low education would not easily understand child’s biological, psychological and social changes. Instead, she or he could choose to batter the child -until either of the two kills another. Moreover, they tend to be more hostile to children as compared to educated one. Yet positive exchanges between parent and child and health behaviors are crucial for successful parenthood.
However, there could be some people, who are not worthy being parents or should not have become one in the first place -regardless of parental age. They act irresponsibly, as if they only had children by accident! Actually, they deserve strongest punishment possible for destroying child’s future, earliest. Perhaps, in future, we could have mandatory interviews for prospective parents.
To note is that parent’s toxic actions towards the child could adversely affect child's physical, mental, academic and social development. In fact, it is another form of murder, this time round, called identity assassination.
All these could be occurring at the same time -when the child is facing both adolescent and multi-faceted torture from the parent. They could carry the forms of negative child labeling, verbal insults, bullying, threats to withdraw support, passive contributions to child’s development, putting forward negative wishes, suffocating child development etcetera.
A child without necessary support systems, lost self-esteem, depression, anxiety, suicide impulses, drowned in acts of substance abuse, disrupts societal peace, who under extreme circumstances, could commit suicide or cause lunacy -brings forward a serious case that should must never be taken lightly.
Such parents usually have grave lack of parental skills, while others have prejudicial backgrounds. With them, their child rearing styles tend to be worst. Giving a person, as that, a child to parent would be as good as throwing the kid to a tiger -to devour.
It is usually authoritarian –characterized by constant verbal and physical assault. Communities are usually reluctance to intervene, unless serious action murder of either child or parent -radiating from long-term silent conflicts, occurs.
Given the serious consequences resultant from bad parenting, some parents could be as good as not parents. They would not deserve the honor of parenthood. It is, rather, sheer mistake. Whether biological parent or not, there would be no relationship at all. Thus, the abused child would be as good as an orphan.
Characteristics of abusive parents could be; acting as though competitors (with child), bullying, being insensitive to children’s needs, sadism, verbal and physical aggression, maiming and suffocating child's developmental channels, arguing rather than discussing issues with child, and discouraging rather than encouraging or supporting positive attributes of a child, carrying out divide and rule policy at home –and amazingly creating rivalry and unhealthy competition among children.
Wandega (Wednesday September 10, 2008, pg 12), compared the times of African traditions and today –regarding protection of children against parental abuse. According to him, modern day parents have lost it all. There are many cases of child abuse, and pornographic material that at display every other day in Uganda.
Since they cannot easily apologize to abused children, parents become insecure (as if expecting revenge) -and see no more use in giving further support to the child. The conflict, then, could have reached so far that mending it seems impossible.
The result to it is open refusal to support the child in his developmental endeavors, become unemotional, and often use negative labels against the child with intentions to destroy (if not killing person himself) child’s personality.
Moreover, because the child has no person to talk to, or simply banned from discussions with people outside the toxic family, the child could develop suicide impulses or even carry it out.
The abused child’s day never includes resting. He or she partly acts as house-boy or house girl -yet he has to be at school, to play, do assignments and engage in entertaining activities.
Going to a boarding school could be the only escape route, though some people would wish that home problems, are solved therein. Firstly, child human development issues must have stakeholders in it –that include; schools, NGOs and even government. Secondly, the first step in mental health intervention, child must be relocated from the pathologic area.
For such children, there no more chance of ever relating to parents positively, and with evidence that it is a gone case. It would mean helping a child develop new lifestyle, as soon as possible that helps him or her to recover from the long history of family trauma, to gain self-esteem, and ultimately, facilitate him or her to get surrounded by nice people –who show care and love.
On whether children go to boarding schools or not, it is a matter of time. A boarding school for the developing child would be most suited at puberty. This is at that time that the biological clock indicates need for independence and developing of social relations.
But, before that, there must be informal sessions for the child at home to make him or her realize the changes going on in his or her body and those they are about to face. This could be, then, accompanied by imparting of skills to help child (or children) successfully move about the puberty challenges.
Children, for example, would need to learn and practice value-based skills, like decision-making, assertive skills, negotiation skills, goal setting, effective communication, and life planning skills. In addition, knowledge of adolescent changes, and contraceptive use could follow suit. These could act as reference points in the face of any developmental challenge.
The changing times require parents to mix well different roles. For example; having to attend to work and be at home -to instill morals and values in children, and monitor those “who qualify” to be in boarding school. Child-care, being a hectic role could be a joint venture between parents and schools. At one stage, society could come in.
It is, by doing so, that the parent would be able to track development progress of the child and gain confidence upon having knowledge of how children are fairing. Any parent, who never works with schools in child development, is nothing, but a stranger to his own child.
Interestingly, the lazy parent puts all the trust in the kid, expecting him to report what transpired at school -while sometimes claiming to be busy. But this would be the best moment for the children attain the highest pick of freedom to experiment even the “no fly zones” -like; misappropriation of school fees, report card forging and abandoning or dropping out of school without notice of the parent.
From such parental ill behaviors, wouldn’t we be nurturing potential corrupt government officials for the future? From the above scenarios, surely, occurrence of many other bad consequences of any kind would not be a surprise. The question would, then, be: what role, as a parent, did you play?
Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
+256774336277
waiswajacobo@yahoo.co.uk
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Family Mental Health...
TITLE: CHILD ABUSE
BY WAISWA JACOB +256774336277, waiswajacobo@yahoo.co.uk
ORGANISED BY: RAISING-VOICES
○ 15/10/2007
Introduction:
Child abuse is mental or physical harm inflicted on a child. It carries the following forms; neglect, sex harassment, sex-rape and defilement, strong verbal insults and threats, denial of protection andopportunities for intellectual development, child-soldiering, child-trafficking and trade, child-labour and prostitution etcetera –with all the forms of abuse being used in reference to persons under the age of eighteen (18), hence; is the term child abuse. The media has played a bid role in exposing evils against children, while many other abusive acts have been witnessed in the community. Notably, none of them occur in rural areas, but rather in urban localities. That is; in towns and suburbs. There are various reasons, perceptions, assumptions for child abuse along with preventive mechanisms as seen below;
What can be experienced?
Parent or guardian bullying child: A parent or guardian begins his or her day by locating the child to bully. In case it a working guardian, he or she would return from work anxious to resume part-two of the day’s bullying sessions to the discomfort of the child. The child only experiences relief only when the tormenting guardian is away for work, and terribly gets filled with worries towards arrival time of trouble-some parent. Parent bullying could carry the forms of high-pitched rebukes and accusations accompanied by beating any part of the child’s body –a practice which takes years in the life of the child and leading to mental and physical disabilities that affect academic progress, occupation and interpersonal or social interaction, negatively.
Child labeling: Labeling child with any sort of evil references, anything bad that can be thought about or imagined within home and to visitors who come home. When introductions are being made of house members, horrible names would be formed for reference to the abused child, while other members are praised and flattered as superior academically and occupationally. When the labeled child accepts references to him or her, suddenly academic and occupational progress are undermined and therefore; affection his or her growth and development.
Discrimination and segregation: Special treatment is given to other loved and cared for children but not for the abused child in usage of house-hold items, purchase of basic necessities like clothes and in payment of school fees. There are no equal opportunities for all the children at home. For example; house-hold items like watching television (TV), switching it (TV) on, eating time –where the abused child eats last while the “real” children eat first and sleep early to prepare for morning classes, school fees for the abused is paid last if lucky while in many cases costs accumulate without payment etcetera.
Heavy work or chores at home: While the loved children or “white lambs” receive kingly treatment, the abused child is subjected to heavy work-load. He or she is woken very early in the morning at 3am to prepare morning tea, iron school uniforms, wake up the white lambs, bathe and cloth them, and wash all clothes in the house. Its clocks 8am still attending to chores yet he or she must prepare to go to school: and before then, he or she must first take the white lambs to school. The abused child arrives at his or her won school at 10am and gets punished for the reason beyond him or her. But, even at school, he or she has no money for lunch or break fast. So, the whole day is spent hungry –both in class and class-breaks. It turns evening, the time for departure back home, filled with worries as if the best home and brothers or sisters were school-mates and classmates, while the best parents where class-teachers. As if the early morning schedule was not heavy enough, the abused child prepares for another heavy duty. That is; wash used plates, cook evening tea, iron all washed clothes, cook supper in the shortest time possible because the white lambs must sleep early to be fresh for school the next day, and washing used utensils after supper before getting the privilege to sleep. Such, not only affect academic performance but also make child develop negative attitude towards work by viewing it as a form of mistreatment.
Deliberate denial of food and other basic development needs: The abused child or “black sheep” is constantly denied basic survival needs as means of fighting the absentee mother of the child who may have separated from the child’s father or as a struggle to solve the unresolved conflicts with the departed mother of the child either through death or divorce and separation. In some instances, the child’s hunger for food could be used to kill him or her by poisoning. By making sure that there is no access to food for the abused, foodstuffs are strictly kept in a food store, with padlocks well-placed, where only the white lambs go or can have access to the keys. Such treatment would not only cause malnutrition, but also constant healthy problems due to diseases and resulting from weak immune system.
The above revelations about the difficult life abused children go through clearly shows high level of enslavement similar to what Israelites went through. But, as the Bible teaches, the enslaved soon find deliverance and gain high status among communities. This means no one is created by God to be mistreated and He punishes those who mistreat others, as was the case with Egypt .
Existing Assumptions and Perception of Child Abuse:
There are different perceptions of child abuse both at homes and at schools. In homes, they say: it is a punishment for problem children, who are later taken for abused children; and that what is called child-labor or heavy chores at home is actually informal training to be hard-working and responsible citizens in the country.
While at school, what is called corporal punishment (a form of child abuse), is really disciplining the child towards behaving acceptably in accordance to both school rules and social norms, where the otherwise (misbehaviors) are totally unacceptable. It is complimented by the Biblical teaching that: “if you hold back the rod or beating-stick, you spoil the child.” And, in most cases, schools and homes make alliances to effectively punish the child.
Some of assumptions about child abuse are that: it takes place in a step child-step parent relationship; common among the modern times urban dwellers than the traditional family and rural systems; abused children are big-headed, very difficult to look-after; abused children are disabled or ugly with no future or no need to waste time “unprofitably” to look after them; the parents are uneducated, school drop-outs, of low socio-economic class, characterized by poor housing and lacking parental skills.
Known Reasons for Child Abuse:
The reasons for child abuse basically revolve around: child characteristics like being ugly, disabled or too thin and with behavior problems; parental characteristics like having begun rearing children at a tender age, which is a child to child affair rather than parent to child; having been abused by their parents before parenting life – learned experience which is transformed in the life of the parents when they get their own children; and inadequacy to amicably provide for the kids which would like neglect; poverty and poor housing which makes provision of child basics more of a dream than a reality; inadequate education which never allows them a chance to respect rights of others value for life as well as find career opportunities to help improve on family life; alcohol and domestic violence in which children become part of the harmful consequences –both psychological and physical; and, divorce and separation, which displaces hate of the divorced or divorcee onto the child or either party.
A number of ways can be adopted to prevent child abuse. Among them, the following are pertinent to note: promoting education for all in order to increase career opportunities and fight poverty that tend to be an influence over child abuse; encouraging family stability through enacting the domestic relation’s bill to save wives from husbands’ unending greed that soon result into divorce or separation and disappearing of parental love for children –sometimes called bastards, and encouraging Christianity or religiousness to promote agape love for children regardless of whom they belong to; sensitizing the communities about child abuse being unnecessary evil that must be fought or condemned through policy, decree or legislation; training expectant mothers in parenthood or parenting skills; improving on household incomes to reduce on parenting stress that could be misplaced onto children leading into abuse and neglect; integrating childhood and neglect into the school curriculum to completely erode off child abuse evil out of vocabulary in the generations to come and promotion of human rights subject in communities as well as adult literacy and training programmes.
In conclusion, is the assertion that child abuse as an extreme evil with far reaching consequences on child development in the areas of academic, occupation and social interactions -showing serious inadequacies and under-achievement that forms a cyclic path in the life of the abused child, which unless he or she is rehabilitated through psychological therapeutic programmes, some of the cases may lead in death or permanent derangement. Communities must, therefore, rise to stop violence against children and report existing cases to authorities early enough, while government must enact enabling laws as well as embark training programmes aimed at completely eradicating the crime of violence on children.
W.J. waiswajacobo@yahoo.co.uk
BY WAISWA JACOB +256774336277, waiswajacobo@yahoo.co.uk
ORGANISED BY: RAISING-VOICES
○ 15/10/2007
Introduction:
Child abuse is mental or physical harm inflicted on a child. It carries the following forms; neglect, sex harassment, sex-rape and defilement, strong verbal insults and threats, denial of protection andopportunities for intellectual development, child-soldiering, child-trafficking and trade, child-labour and prostitution etcetera –with all the forms of abuse being used in reference to persons under the age of eighteen (18), hence; is the term child abuse. The media has played a bid role in exposing evils against children, while many other abusive acts have been witnessed in the community. Notably, none of them occur in rural areas, but rather in urban localities. That is; in towns and suburbs. There are various reasons, perceptions, assumptions for child abuse along with preventive mechanisms as seen below;
What can be experienced?
Parent or guardian bullying child: A parent or guardian begins his or her day by locating the child to bully. In case it a working guardian, he or she would return from work anxious to resume part-two of the day’s bullying sessions to the discomfort of the child. The child only experiences relief only when the tormenting guardian is away for work, and terribly gets filled with worries towards arrival time of trouble-some parent. Parent bullying could carry the forms of high-pitched rebukes and accusations accompanied by beating any part of the child’s body –a practice which takes years in the life of the child and leading to mental and physical disabilities that affect academic progress, occupation and interpersonal or social interaction, negatively.
Child labeling: Labeling child with any sort of evil references, anything bad that can be thought about or imagined within home and to visitors who come home. When introductions are being made of house members, horrible names would be formed for reference to the abused child, while other members are praised and flattered as superior academically and occupationally. When the labeled child accepts references to him or her, suddenly academic and occupational progress are undermined and therefore; affection his or her growth and development.
Discrimination and segregation: Special treatment is given to other loved and cared for children but not for the abused child in usage of house-hold items, purchase of basic necessities like clothes and in payment of school fees. There are no equal opportunities for all the children at home. For example; house-hold items like watching television (TV), switching it (TV) on, eating time –where the abused child eats last while the “real” children eat first and sleep early to prepare for morning classes, school fees for the abused is paid last if lucky while in many cases costs accumulate without payment etcetera.
Heavy work or chores at home: While the loved children or “white lambs” receive kingly treatment, the abused child is subjected to heavy work-load. He or she is woken very early in the morning at 3am to prepare morning tea, iron school uniforms, wake up the white lambs, bathe and cloth them, and wash all clothes in the house. Its clocks 8am still attending to chores yet he or she must prepare to go to school: and before then, he or she must first take the white lambs to school. The abused child arrives at his or her won school at 10am and gets punished for the reason beyond him or her. But, even at school, he or she has no money for lunch or break fast. So, the whole day is spent hungry –both in class and class-breaks. It turns evening, the time for departure back home, filled with worries as if the best home and brothers or sisters were school-mates and classmates, while the best parents where class-teachers. As if the early morning schedule was not heavy enough, the abused child prepares for another heavy duty. That is; wash used plates, cook evening tea, iron all washed clothes, cook supper in the shortest time possible because the white lambs must sleep early to be fresh for school the next day, and washing used utensils after supper before getting the privilege to sleep. Such, not only affect academic performance but also make child develop negative attitude towards work by viewing it as a form of mistreatment.
Deliberate denial of food and other basic development needs: The abused child or “black sheep” is constantly denied basic survival needs as means of fighting the absentee mother of the child who may have separated from the child’s father or as a struggle to solve the unresolved conflicts with the departed mother of the child either through death or divorce and separation. In some instances, the child’s hunger for food could be used to kill him or her by poisoning. By making sure that there is no access to food for the abused, foodstuffs are strictly kept in a food store, with padlocks well-placed, where only the white lambs go or can have access to the keys. Such treatment would not only cause malnutrition, but also constant healthy problems due to diseases and resulting from weak immune system.
The above revelations about the difficult life abused children go through clearly shows high level of enslavement similar to what Israelites went through. But, as the Bible teaches, the enslaved soon find deliverance and gain high status among communities. This means no one is created by God to be mistreated and He punishes those who mistreat others, as was the case with Egypt .
Existing Assumptions and Perception of Child Abuse:
There are different perceptions of child abuse both at homes and at schools. In homes, they say: it is a punishment for problem children, who are later taken for abused children; and that what is called child-labor or heavy chores at home is actually informal training to be hard-working and responsible citizens in the country.
While at school, what is called corporal punishment (a form of child abuse), is really disciplining the child towards behaving acceptably in accordance to both school rules and social norms, where the otherwise (misbehaviors) are totally unacceptable. It is complimented by the Biblical teaching that: “if you hold back the rod or beating-stick, you spoil the child.” And, in most cases, schools and homes make alliances to effectively punish the child.
Some of assumptions about child abuse are that: it takes place in a step child-step parent relationship; common among the modern times urban dwellers than the traditional family and rural systems; abused children are big-headed, very difficult to look-after; abused children are disabled or ugly with no future or no need to waste time “unprofitably” to look after them; the parents are uneducated, school drop-outs, of low socio-economic class, characterized by poor housing and lacking parental skills.
Known Reasons for Child Abuse:
The reasons for child abuse basically revolve around: child characteristics like being ugly, disabled or too thin and with behavior problems; parental characteristics like having begun rearing children at a tender age, which is a child to child affair rather than parent to child; having been abused by their parents before parenting life – learned experience which is transformed in the life of the parents when they get their own children; and inadequacy to amicably provide for the kids which would like neglect; poverty and poor housing which makes provision of child basics more of a dream than a reality; inadequate education which never allows them a chance to respect rights of others value for life as well as find career opportunities to help improve on family life; alcohol and domestic violence in which children become part of the harmful consequences –both psychological and physical; and, divorce and separation, which displaces hate of the divorced or divorcee onto the child or either party.
A number of ways can be adopted to prevent child abuse. Among them, the following are pertinent to note: promoting education for all in order to increase career opportunities and fight poverty that tend to be an influence over child abuse; encouraging family stability through enacting the domestic relation’s bill to save wives from husbands’ unending greed that soon result into divorce or separation and disappearing of parental love for children –sometimes called bastards, and encouraging Christianity or religiousness to promote agape love for children regardless of whom they belong to; sensitizing the communities about child abuse being unnecessary evil that must be fought or condemned through policy, decree or legislation; training expectant mothers in parenthood or parenting skills; improving on household incomes to reduce on parenting stress that could be misplaced onto children leading into abuse and neglect; integrating childhood and neglect into the school curriculum to completely erode off child abuse evil out of vocabulary in the generations to come and promotion of human rights subject in communities as well as adult literacy and training programmes.
In conclusion, is the assertion that child abuse as an extreme evil with far reaching consequences on child development in the areas of academic, occupation and social interactions -showing serious inadequacies and under-achievement that forms a cyclic path in the life of the abused child, which unless he or she is rehabilitated through psychological therapeutic programmes, some of the cases may lead in death or permanent derangement. Communities must, therefore, rise to stop violence against children and report existing cases to authorities early enough, while government must enact enabling laws as well as embark training programmes aimed at completely eradicating the crime of violence on children.
W.J. waiswajacobo@yahoo.co.uk
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