This article was written when child abuse scandals were to the fore on tiny St Helena and in Australia but meanwhile it was also lurking in the greater depths of the worldwide Catholic Church and across so many establishment institutions in many countries not just the UK. Ironically the UK with its "advanced" system of social services has been found most wanting for example in the Church of England, and most prominently in terms of publicity in the "Rotherham" scandal. One thing was apparent above all others - covering-up and denials. Can adults be trusted? If not, should we not just trust children more as indeed proven by Cambodian children? (First advocated 20 years ago.)
Article for St Helena Independent
Thea surprised us all. For a start she was a girl [1]. She
was neither the oldest nor the brightest. She was one of the more disabled in
our troupe of mixed-ability children.
She had been reluctant to join. She was shy.
Yet there was no mistaking it. Thea
(short for Sokunthea) had emerged as their leader. All the children were poor [2]. That’s
why they were with us. They just wanted
to be like “normal” children [3] able to
learn Computing and English, a small element in our project for mainly poor and
disabled people with two main components. One was to improve livelihoods. The
other “was to do something about their low status”.
