‘Lay proper foundation for child to grow’

A church service for Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month was held on Monday, April 18, at the Kingstown Baptist Church.{{more}}

Held under the theme: “Inspiring families through positive changes for a better society”, members of staff of the Family Affairs Division within the Ministry of National Mobilisation etc joined hands with pre-schoolers in giving God praise.

Minister of National Mobilisation, Frederick Stephenson, was on on hand to deliver brief remarks. Stephenson urged parents and teachers to continue their good work taking care of the children. A special item was done by the Faith Temple pre-school, and a special song was done by Cecile Harry. The scripture reading was done by Ashara Wilkins, while Lemmew Samuel and Amor Jackson prayed for the nation and the family, respectively.

Delivering the sermon, Pastor Ezra Cumberbatch stressed on the importance of the family in raising children.

Cumberbatch described the family as the foundation to life and society. He said it is used as the most positive agent for change and development but can also be used as the most dangerous and disastrous element. “How is it going to look if the principles and foundation upon which our society is built is destroyed. What can we do?” he asked.

He noted that it was important for persons to speak out against abuse of children because some of these young victims carry mental scars for life. “…These children who are victims of abuse grow up to hurt people if they themselves do not get the help they need. They pass on the hurt onto those who come into their lives,” Cumberbatch pointed out. According to Cumberbatch, it may not be a case where the child deliberately chooses to hurt others, but because their own scars have not healed, they by virtue of their experience pass it onto others. “…So what we will be doing is breeding a bunch of young people who are hurt and in an effort to deal with themselves, they continue hurting others,” he said.

Cumberbatch threw out a challenge for parents to lay the proper foundation for a child to grow. “If their foundation is not set and not concrete, then we are going to be in very serious times as a country,” he stated.