“PROTECT OUR…CHILDREN! SAVE OUR…CHILDREN!” were the
words which echoed throughout New Kingston on May 1st, the beginning
of Child’s month. After the shocking
revelation some of the abuse faced by the Jamaican children, it sparked some quick
action by Brandon Allwood and his team (Candiese Leveridge, Jaevion Nelson, K.
Dominic McKenzie, Lonique Chin and Ricardo Brooks) in forming the advocacy
group Help JA Children which is aimed at raising awareness about child abuse
and helping Jamaica’s children. The first plan of ‘Help JA Children’ was to
have a march and rally to shatter the silence and make their voices heard.
The march started at the Bustamante Children’s
hospital where persons who took a keen interest in the cause, gathered to ‘shatter
the silence’ about child abuse. The march went on to the Emancipation Park
where persons assembled outside to make themselves seen and their voices heard
by passersby. “Stop child abuse! Protect
our Children! Love our Children!” were the chants which resonated through the
city. The rally continued on inside the park where Claudette Pious lead
advocate of Children First (A non-governmental organization) ,Carolyn Gomes from
the Human Rights organization, Dr Pauline Mullings chairperson of the National
Child's Month Committee, Greg Smith from the OCR (Office of the Children’s
Registry), Marcia Wilson from NPTAJ (National
Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica) and also representatives from Jamaicans
for Justice, CISOCA (The Centre for
Investigation of Sexual Offenses & Child Abuse) and the UN all loaned their
voices in spreading awareness of child abuse.
There was also a performance from 'Children's First' which highlighted two cases of child abuse. Sexual abuse (Father molesting his daughter) and Physical abuse (Mother beating her son)
Members of the entertainment fraternity were also in
attendance and helped in urging supporters to break the silence, persons such
as Voicemail, Denyque, Raine Seville, Ity & Fancy cat, Ishawna, Empress. Former
Miss. Jamaica world/universe Yendi Phillips, reigning Miss. Jamaica Danielle
Crosskill along with the 2012 Miss. Jamaica contestants all played a part in
the march to help save the Jamaican Children.
As stated by the ‘Help JA Children’ organization, “This
is only the beginning”. The aim of the march was to raise awareness in the
fight against child abuse. It’s only the start of plans which are already in
the works to help protect our children. Here is a part of the speech from Chief advocate of ‘Help JA Children’, Brandon Allwood where he spoke about child
abuse and some of the plans of organization.
The children are our future and if we sit back and
do nothing while they are being abused, there will be no future or a future not
worth looking forward to. Children have a right to be safe and protected from abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination. They have a right to
be children. It is the duty of society to ensure that each and every child is
protected from harm, play your part in helping a child, if you know of a
child who is being abused or you SUSPECT is being abused, call 1-888-PROTECT
and report the matter. Do your part in saving a child’s life. Help JA’s
Children, Shatter the silence.
Scenes from the Help JA Children's march & Rally
No comments:
Post a Comment