The following are the problems which are being faced by many girls.

1.Abuse - Many girls are being abused both physically and sexually by their guardians, relatives and other people of the community.

2.Hunger - Fathers are forcing their teenage daughters to have early marriages in exchange of food.The men who marry the girls are old enough to be their fathers or grandfathers. Many girls spend a few days without having a proper meal but left overs.

3.Prostitution - Hunger and poverty are leading to prostitution. Prostitution is leading to teenage pregnancy and STD's.[ gonnorrhea, syphillis....]

4.Illiteracy - Many girls are not going to school because their parents can't afford the school fees. Some live with their stepparents so the are not allowed to go to school, some parents believe that girls must not go to school but boys can.

Gladys Chidume
Mucheke Telecentre

Each year in June the ministry of Youth, Development, Gender and Employment Creation in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture run the Junior Members of Parliament Program. The Ministry of Education facilitates in the selection of Junior/Child MPs in the various schools in the 120 constituencies.

Each year in June the Junior Parliament Session is held, in commemoration of the Day of the African Child the 16th of June in memory of the children massacred in Soweto (South Africa) in 1976. To most children this day is very important. The young innovative youths are not just seen but heard as they are given a chance to gather, interact and say out their views as representatives of the children they represent. They mainly debate on tropical issues affecting children. They are given a chance to address their problems and also suggest possible solutions in front of top government officials, ministers and the president. After their debate the president and other government officials respond to the issues raised on how they will solve the problems.

One of the issues amongst those debated, the one which caused great interest to those who follow this program is the issue of CHILD ABUSE. Child Abuse is an issue which most of us children feel that the government is failing to bring to an end. It is very sad to note that it is those adults whom we trust most who take advantage of our weakness or inability.

The problem of Child Abuse is as old as humanity and occurs in all races, religions, economic groups (rich or poor) and cultures. Children are increasingly becoming victims of child abuse in all forms namely: physically, emotionally, negligence or sexually abused.

In most cases when children lose their parents loss and grief heavily affect them. This is the time when they are in need of love most. Traditionally, orphaned children were absorbed into the extended family. However nowadays it has changed as extended families usually have their own problems, living the poor child feeling unwanted which may lead to the child losing self-confidence that so many cases of attempted suicide have been reported. In a number of cases the children are left to with their old grandparents who are too old to offer adequate physical and psychological support to these children. These children grow at risk emotionally due to the absence of concerned adults to teach and guide them. As a result of negligence they are educationally disadvantaged as they rarely attend school. High rates of school-drop-outs have been reported recently. Because of their perceived poor prospects for the future, they are often careless and irresponsible. However poverty as also contributed much in that most youths at tender ages resort to petty crimes and girls engage in commercial sex as away of making a living. In some the cases it is the caregiver who actually influences them into such crimes.

Other groups of children who are in danger of sexual abuse are children with physical disabilities, those who are mentally handicapped and children living in toxic family environment. Most of the caregivers take advantage of their disability and most of them have gone unpunished. No body seems to care to report such cases, fearing the child's security and wellbeing since there won't be any one to look after the child if the caregiver is arrested.

The other group of people in danger is that of adopted or fostered children who often receive worse treatments than biological children in the same family. For instance the adopted child is constantly beaten for minor offenses and even those he/she did not commit. At times the child is abused the right to education as he/she is turned into a vendor to raise income to sustain the family or pay fees for the other children. An innocent child of a school going age is seen in the streets selling freezits (Frozen Cool Drinks) and vegetables by the side of a road on a school day. Worse still this same poor child is expected to water the `garden, if in the rural areas he is expected to spend the whole day in the fields on an empty stomach only to receive a small sized meal not enough to satisfy hunger. On special occasions this same child is only allowed to feast on jumbled up left over food suitable only to be consumed by dogs.

In some of the cases, which have left most children depressed, sad, feeling low self-esteemed and unwanted, is when he/she is physically or emotionally abused. Physical abuse has led to most of its victims living in constant fear of their perpetrators. This is when a child is constantly criticized, belittled, teased or ignored. A child is emotionally abused when the parents/care-givers fail to provide psychological nurturing necessary for a child's physical and emotional development. Children are verbally abused nit only by step-mothers but also by their real mothers. They are often shouted at and humiliated or frightened that they live in constant fear and suffer from grief and stress. Verbal abuse often affects children on an older age that is grown enough to understand reality and facts about life.

How disappointing it is to note that most parents especially those who are heavy drinkers often neglect their children, that a child ends up feeling lonely and unwanted, mostly in situations when the Child lives with a stepmother and only relies on the father for true love. Negligence is continued failure by the caregiver to provide a child with the necessities of life and adequate supervision needed for a child's optimal growth and development. Failure to use available resource to meet their needs e.g. not taking a child for medical treatment when the clinic is free and close by. Failure to provide food, shelter, safety care and education even if the resources are cheaply available, which results in long term problems to the child of retarded growth physically, intellectually and emotionally. Child neglect could be a result of a number of factors such as lack of parenting skills (due to early marriage), inability to plan, low self-esteem, social isolation and excessive consumption of alcohol.

When discussions of child abuse are made, most people think either that it only occurs at home or abuse is only about sexual intercourse. Abuse occurs everywhere, as long as the child's rights are violated it is abuse. In the colonial days students were wiped with shjamboks on their buttocks till blood swelled. Even today in some schools teachers are using the wrong methods to punish mischievous children. It used to be very common, though it has become rare that a child would dropout from school fearing another beating from the teacher. In the rural areas mostly one would hide in the mountains and return home together with the other late. However one of the most common abuse is that of students among themselves. This is when, mostly boys bully the younger boys. Particularly serious in high schools where it has become common practice to harass the new comers each year. The younger new comers are bullied, teased, called names at by peers that it may take sometime for them to adjust into the school environment. Some children even end up preferring to transfer. Though the ministry has worked hard to discourage physical child abuse in schools by both teachers and other students, it has been a problem each year to prevent students (former victims of abuse the previous year) from revenging as they call it and always they try to make it sour.

Having looked at all other abuses caused by human beings onto another, at times even the environment can influence abuse. In the rural areas children walk for not less than 10km to reach the school which means more than 20km each day. It is sympathetic to note that the child below the age of eight is expected to for such a long distance each day. The truth about it is that the child grows to hate school each day of his or her life. Children fail to tolerate the kind of situation they will be suffering from. A child feels hopeless and angry towards the parents as he or she feels that school is a place unsuitable for human beings. Children often suffer from fatigue as they woke up at 4am and return at 8pm, which will result in some negative effects on the child's well being/health.

Concern has been put forward in cases of sexual abuse which has far reaching consequences in today's society (to be continued)