NOBODY'S CHILD!!??

Nobody’s child

By Cheranka Mendis and Dianne Silva
The baby cries softly… it builds up to a loud wail. No one is around to carry him, to comfort him and give him the protection he deserves. No one to feed the hungry mouth and sing soft lullabies for the baby to sleep. He is alone. His parents don’t want him. Left alone on a roadside all he can do is cry…

How many of them have been left like that? Born to a mother and father who don’t know the value of children; left on a dirty pavement, beside roads, rivers and railways left to die, or if they are lucky, for someone to find, these children are born into a world of corruption, evil and neglect.

The child cries on… he reaches out and no one is there to hold his hand… hunger sweeps over him and no one to feed him… who am I? Where are my parents? Where am I?

What feelings would have gone through the infant’s little mind found near Bambalapitiya Holy Family Convent on the Marine Drive. The parents of the child have not yet been found. Whose child is he? According to W.S.I Inoka of the Women and Children’s Division in Bambalapitiya Police, the child has been left on the extra railway platform specially kept for the use of the students of Visakha Vidayala and Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya. The 6 month old baby was first at the Medical Care Unit of Lady Ridgeway Hospital and then transferred to Prajapathi Children’s Home in Panadura.

Also a 5 year old was abducted a few weeks ago, a son of a mill owner for a ransom of Rs. 3.5 million by unidentified men in Katugastota, Kandy. However this child was rescued within hours of the abduction for a lower payment of Rs. 1.5 million instead of the original price tab.

Another incident that occurred recently was the transaction of a 6 month old baby in the Bagawanthalawa area. A doctor and a sister at the Bagawanthlawa hospital are suspected to be the main dealers in the business. This has been done with the permissionof the mother of the child. The doctor and the nun have received a sum of Rs.1 lakh for the child but have given the real mother only Rs.20, 000. Rs. 80,000 was shared between the doctor and the sister. The police have now caught the sister allegedly linked to the case along with a minor employee of the hospital. The child is now under the care of the Gorham Children’s Home in Panadura.

We sigh, we moan, we cry for the poor helpless child. Yet how often do we ignore the side of the parents, or in most cases parent? Caught in the excitement of the negative gala following the finding of such a baby we tend to overlook completely the state that persuaded the guardian of the child to commit such cruelty. Surely one could not be so brutally harsh to vent his/her anger and frustrations on a mere baby whose only means of communication is a loud gurgle or a wail? Caught in the social stigma against these actions we turn away from reality and become a partial judge on the matter. What could have compelled a human being to throw away, leave and walk away from a life born out of them? Is it inhumanity, deception or reality?

In Sri Lanka the numbers of abandoned babies have reached a high stake in the recent past. In many number of cases workers hailing from the outskirts of Colombo fall victims to the prey of luring men and thus illegal children are born and then abandoned or sold. Officer in Charge, Buddhika Balachandra stated that women coming to Colombo in search of work are uninformed and blind to the realities within the community and they fall prey to lust thirsty men and thus bring about destruction to themselves and others. Most often these ‘others’ are the illicit children born out of contemptible actions. OIC Balachandra highlighted 3 main facts that could cause such actions.

“Firstly the blame falls on the parents of these young women. The parents are unaware of what their child’s actual employment is and where they take lodgings.” The parents tend to loosen the hold on children, blindly believing in them and thus take no further interest on what actually happens once they come to these industrialised colonies. These girls come as workers for garment factories or for nursing; but within a few short months living becomes a difficulty and thus they engage in illegal activities. “Sometimes it’s not the hardships of living that compel these girls to take to such activities, it’s the mere want of excitement that causes trouble.”

According to the OIC in a recent collection of statistics on the number of abortions in the country, an approximate percentage of 15-20% weekly was recorded using shady brothels. And the higher percentage was recorded from girls from outstation working in the industrialised sectors and married men. However when the girls realise their blunder it is far too late to rectify them. And thus children born are aborted, abandoned or sold.

Next OIC Balachandra pointed out the harmful effects from pornographic movies and such items on sale. “Electronic and print media are also to be blamed for these actions. Certain advertisements are compelling and persuasive. Watching and seeing these on the raw takes away the conservative upbringing of these girls. They forget the cultural and social standards of the country and are persuaded to join in these activities.” However much the authorities try to suppress and or reduce such illegal actions it has always surfaced from time to time, he said.

The third cause is the ignorance on precautionary methods. The rural women have almost no idea on such methods and they dive into situations headlong with little or no guarantee of the man being with them. The public should be made aware of such situations and the precautions that can be used. But Sri Lanka being a very conservative, closed up country where such issues are kept hushed up, the chance of girls being pregnant before their time is more. And these girls coming from rural and poor backgrounds worsen the situation.

A few years ago a scandal broke out about a child farm that operated under Mrs. Attulathmudali in Ratmalana. Here young pregnant mothers were brought in, kept and once the child was born the infants were sold to foreigners, illegally. Though this was raided thousands of children had been by then illegally sold to outsiders. According to the Sri Lankan law illegal transactions of children are bound under Amendment No: 16 360(D) of 2006. The parents or guardians associated with the transaction will serve 20 years in jail.

The legal actions imposed on abandoned children and child transactions are however not very strong and too lenient says OIC Balachandra. Punishments are distinguished under the Penal Code, Sentence no 285,286 and 287. Under this either the person will have to serve jail term of 3 months or pay a fine of Rs. 10,000. “Such lenient punishments will not help reduce the harmful effects of this. The predators should be ordered a 10 year jail term at least”

Child trafficking for labour and using local children for camel races in the Middle East countries are also prevailing in this so called “conservative” country. Reportedly, there have been occasions when the child has been sold or promised to be sold even when it is still inside the womb. In most cases children are transacted with the knowledge of the parents with monetary intentions, sometimes under stark poverty and sometimes for pure monetary gains. Children are also sold for prostitution and adoption. The most vulnerable group in mankind, transactions of children and such situations are written off under abuse of children. Though the intentions behind adoption is fairly justifiable as one group is voluntarily taking over the responsibilities of a child whose parents cannot afford even the basic necessities to keep the baby alive, there have been instances recorded where the children are adopted and then used for other purposes later on, such as for slavery and prostitution.

“The extremely long waiting ques and the complications in the adoption process hold back the number of children adopted as well as, leave a lot of people(couples) with no hope,” says OIC Buddhika Balachandra. He went on to say that people not knowing the correct procedure is also a setback. The unawareness of such matters would leave the single parents and sometimes both to take the wrong path and thus be caught trespassing on illegal grounds

When there are couples crying over the fact that they don’t have children, when there are couples trying so many different methods to have a child, is it ethical to either abort the child or abandon them on waysides? The question is on the rights of the child…on humanity…. Who are we to decide on the lives of an infant? Could you with simple dismemberment turn away from the innocence of an infant and walk away with no feelings of remorse or regret? “I am my brother’s keeper” they say, then who would deliver them from evil if it’s not us?
courtesy:dailymirror.lk