The topic that I
will talk about today is quite sensitive and it took me a long time to write about
it. This was mainly due to my continuous reflections about how and what I can
say in this blog. To begin with, recently I was invited to join an Algerian
Facebook group about the rights of children and adolescents in the Algerian
society (Child Protection Algeria) where many people share their insecurities
and bad/traumatic childhood experiences. Most of the stories were related to
bullying, domestic violence, sexual harassment, ephebophilia, paedophilia,
raping and other inhuman acts. I cannot re-narrate any of those group posts but
the common element that I could notice is that these people have become aware
of what happened to them and they tried to start self-healing through sharing
their anecdotes, attending psychologists and other formats of trauma recovery. But
then something dawned on me and I have started to question many things: what
about those children who are not aware of what happened to them, those who are
different and may not have even received education about these topics, what
about children with disabilities? What about disadvantaged children?!!
I spent days thinking about it especially after I saw someone
asking about people with disabilities such as Down's Syndrome who may have
faced abuse or sexual harassment during their childhood and could not talk
about it because they may have never been introduced to or are not informed
about these subjects and social issues (talking about the Algerian context in
particular). Every story made me cry to a point that I started doubting
humanity and human values. I felt that I could do nothing more than watching or
writing this blog post. However, after days of self-discussions, I have
understood and realised that there is a need to raise this issue in the Algerian
society. There is a need to widely open people’s eyes towards what would happen
to their children as well as the necessity of sexual abuse education and sexual
abuse prevention programmes. I know that there are many limitations that may
not support this initiation as I, indeed, do not know how to start but what I
conspicuously know and am critically cognizant of is that I cannot keep silent.
Overall, I believe that everyone should talk and voice their inner thoughts and
experiences … Everyone should be made aware of this hidden danger… This is what
we need in an inclusive society!
