Having Children

When you think that you are having children, it must come as a shock to realise that it is the children that are having you. You are no longer master, or mistress, of all that you survey. Everything is held hostage to the whims and wherewithals of that fragile being that is the fruit of your loins. You are unable to plan without considering its needs. And those that that do not consider its needs are held in very low regard by their peers, society and, in certain extreme cases, the state.

I watched a film last night about the abuse children suffer at the hands of parents, friends of parents and other beastly beings. Then I was shocked out of my seat when NTV televised this broadcast about child abuse in a specific school in central Kenya. I do not know where we are heading, but it is definitely not heaven. When parents, grandparents and other relatives resort to the kind of violence and abuse as was portrayed against innocent children, this world dies a little. How do you explain a father impregnating his daughter; when the child from that unnatural act is of age, he impregnates it too? Why would that family be forgiven by the Almighty? Why would He forgive our land? We are truly doomed!

Sexual abuse is not the only curse befalling our families today. Recently, the papers ran a series of pictures of children who had been brutally assaulted physically by those meant to protect them from harm. There were heart-rending images of children with burnt bodies, broken limbs and mutilated bodies. Many of their attackers were women, leading me to belive that the image we tend to portray of women as the natural care-givers for these innocent lives is quickly losing its sheen.

All this tells me that Kenyan society is dying. Institutions like the Nairobi Women's Hopsital are all laudable efforts, but we need to treat the root causes of this collapse in moral and social values. Simply throwing money towards alleviating the pain that is being caused, will no longer suffice. We need to approach God and beg His mercy, for if we don't, the bad old days of active village participation in child-sacrifices will be upon us.