Walking past some young girls recently, I was appalled at their familiarity with passersby. These girls must have been between 12 and 15. One of them shouted to a male passerby for a K1 000. She offered her flat chest for his pleasure in return. Of course, this man chose to ignore her.

This girl is not the only one I have seen approaching strangers, either for a chat or begging for alms. Of course, this applies to some boys I have seen approach vehicles without fear of the owners—not to beg, but inspect or get familiar with owners. Our children simply do not fear strangers. They wait for approaching cars and engage drivers in conversations. Some will even shower insults to adults they meet and go about their business as if nothing happened.

Parents ought to be concerned with the well-being of their children. The basic lesson of life is to teach their children to protect themselves away from their watchful adults. One step is to instil discipline in them—such as staying away from strangers and to mind their own business.

Growing up, one of the repeated messages by my parents was never to talk to strangers, never to accept food from strangers and never go into strangers’ houses or cars. These lessons were meant to safeguard children and remove this element of familiarity. The familiarity breeds comfort that may result in corruption of the mind. Corrupted minds are easily manipulated. Manipulation leads to unprecedented crimes such as defilement, rape, sodomy and body parts harvesting.

Ordinarily, crimes are there and will always be there. Criminals seize every opportunity to commit crimes. They, especially sex predators, optimize on vulnerability, ignorance, seclusion, naivety, friendliness and a thirst for material. The notion behind staying away from strangers or anything they have to offer safeguards a child from criminal manipulation and alert them to impending danger. They would be in a better position to flee wherever they can or report lurking enticements.

My plea to parents and guardians is to instil this sort of upbringing in their wards. It is never old fashioned. Any upright child must safeguard his/her territory, beginning with fearing anybody they do not know or have not met. Austerity in this matter is my way of Choosing to Challenge, as on of the  International Women’s Day (March 8) entailed.

And because we have strayed from this golden rule, it is no wonder many under aged girls are seen on the streets to sell sex or challenge older men to bedroom duos.  It is no wonder, too that boys are sleeping with older men for sex.          

Training can reduce some of the sexual crimes. The young ones too can learn to report such malpractices earlier when taught right.

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