At 10am this morning most of Aruba’s schools will observe a moment of silence to honor the memory and acknowledge the tragedy that met up with two babies, 5 and 3; the toddler and the baby became the subject of social media outrage last week, one by virtue of his cruel unimaginable death and the other by virtue of his “disappearance.”
I remember nine years ago, the island was rocked by a similar outrage over the sad fate of four siblings, suffering intolerable torture at the hands of dysfunctional, drug-addicted guardians. A fast-acting teacher who came to the kids’ rescue at the time, received all the criticism and blame for circumventing the holy system, and taking matters into her own hands on behalf of the kids. That same school teacher explained to me yesterday that nothing has changed in nine years, everyone knows, everyone heard about the on-going long term abuse, but no one would tackle the issue head on because we’re all related, we don’t like to shame acquaintances, it is a small community, after all. And while every few years the social department head moves on, there is no real investment in social workers, the soldiers in the field, to keep them motivated and alert, at the top of their game, so that they recognize evil, when they look it in the face.
Another friend, a teacher, told me just recently that when his school management wanted to press statutory rape charges against a so called 21 year old “boyfriend,” who impregnated a 14 year old, going to his school, all social and pedagogic instances involved begged them to hold off, and find “more amicable solutions” to the “problem.” They were so pleased that the perpetrator stuck around to “support” the minor; they didn’t want to throw that shameless predator in jail.
That same school teacher explained to me that his 2,000 strong, body of students, is guides by a SINGLE social worker. She visits a different school every day, five schools a week, and if delayed, or at a professional training session, she skips a school, and eventually gets around to visit, time permitting, the following week. Imagine how much falls between the cracks there.
Good news, the MinPres published an appropriate response, saying all the right things, there was an emergency government meeting with most of the ministers in their Saturday casuals, to debate what should be done.
I hope the trinity gets together: MinJust, MinEdu and MinSocial, to discuss why One Happy Island is plagued by frequent unaddressed cases of child neglect and abuse.
Incidentally, and I find the timing strange, an employee of the department of social affairs published a ridiculous press release Friday, stating that parents are free to “educate” their children, as they wish, there is no law to regulate their obligations, she said. But the discussion, she added, focuses on the definition of mistreatment, such as beating, then when, and how much, is always open to “debate.” She also stated, that how to educate a child, what language to use, is exactly the difficulty faced by many parents. DUH.
Parenting ain’t easy, and is NOT for everyone, especially not for those drugging their way through life, battling with addiction, mental and anger issues, the likes surrounding the two invisible children, a dysfunctional grandmother, her equally scary partner, an underage, drugged mother, her loony-bin partner, the violent brother, indifferent neighbors, forgetful teachers, non-existing social workers, and an under-staffed system.
Again, the timing and the permissive content of the release are suspicious, I think the department is covering its royal ass. They know, and they are now arguing, that the level of corporal punishment is up for discussion, up to the so-called parent discretion. I call BS on that.
