Silent Pain of Children Sexually Molested in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Victims of child sexual abuse go through an experience words will be impossible to explain and grief that may be unending. An abused child’s grief is a natural reaction or response in dealing with the consequences and spin-off effects of sexual abuse. Grief felt in child sexual abuse is commonly referred to as the grieving of the ‘loss of innocence’. When a child or teen is abused, their innocence is taken away and there's always the possibility that the beauty of their entire childhood will be lost from their perspective. The very purpose of being a young boy or girl is mostly to enjoy exploring life with your innocence. This experience is priceless and as it is taken away from victims, their entire life and future may also be put in jeopardy.

When a victim grieves there are different stages involved, it includes the stage of being shocked and immobilized, denial, depression, and finally, maybe acceptance. Primarily it depends on what kind of culture or society the victim belongs, getting through each stage of grieving is difficult and may even be unsuccessful.

Victims from sub Saharan Africa get through these stages in a more difficult way than most parts of the world. Though they go through the initial shock, the society and culture pressures them to endure it because it is tabooed and appropriate redress is a difficult possibility. The stage of grieving last almost a life time for victims as they seem to be incapable of responding or even doing anything about the childhood abuse they experienced. They place themselves in a scenario where they are left with no choice but to endure. From this period, the whole experience never really sinks in.

As is sets in that they've been abused and they can’t seem to find a way to deal with the reality of what happened to them, denial ordinarily follows. This denial includes the inability to accept that the abuse really took place. This feeling comes as victims try hard to build a mindset that the sexual abuse does not inflict pain and suffering, which is a lie. Of all the stages of grieving, denial is the one that can halt the progress of moving on and healing. Consequently, they will be constantly reminded of the abuse years after it took place. Soon, psychological and behavioral effects will take their toll. An abused child suffers silently and may abandon his or her favorite hobbies like playing or swinging in a playground, and yet “hiding” in denial. This perpetual denial is the scene in sub-Saharan Africa, here cultures and religion (especially Islam) protect the elderly and gives the young child no voice, and they rather stigmatize the victim.

In the entire scene the perpetrators, mostly older men or women are left unknown, or if known, left untouched. If you are tabooed to talk about it how will the perpetrator be brought to book? This culture sets the perpetrators free from prosecution and justice. The local media reports few cases of sexual abuse when it is a very rampant fact. According to The Daily Post Nigeria, reports from the attorney general of Lagos state show that the state recorded 4,035 cases of sexual and child abuses in 2015 alone. Where was the media to give us all the stories?

Lawful arrests, prosecution and punishment of child molesters should and must become a priority.

Reference:

http://dailypost.ng/2016/05/31/lagos-records-4035-rape-child-abuse-cases-in-one-year/

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Ernie J. Burgher is a bi-lingual freelance journalist and author, and speaks English and French. Ernie writes for SitiTalkBlog.

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