Protecting ourselves and our little ones….

My Darlings, take heed for the days are evil. Evil has drawn so near to us we cannot afford to be lax in securing ourselves and our loved ones.

I was chatting with Momma this morning, and the story she told me chilled me to the bones. I’ll recount the story below, and hopefully the knowledge gained from it will save at least one person from the situation. I’ve changed the child’s name and refrained from mentioning any location to protect their anonymity.

A family friend has three boys and a girl, with ages between one and 11 years. One evening after finishing with their homework  the children were riding their bicycles outside in their neighbourhood, while she was in the house doing some chores and catering  to the little baby. About 6pm she went outside to bring them in for their night bath and dinner. To her surprise, they were not ‘complete’. “Where is *Ben”, she asked? “Our neighbour (living opposite their house) called him so he went into their compound. He hasn’t come back yet’. This mother went into the said compound only for the person who called seven-year old Ben to say that his uncle put Ben on a bike and went out. What!!!!!

Alarmed, the woman called her husband who came home and called the Police. Of course they notified my parents and everyone started to pray for his safe return. They called the said Uncle severally, his phone was either switched off or he wouldn’t pick up at all. 24 hours after, no word, no ransom call, nothing.

The Police arrested the young man who lured Ben into their compound, and took him to his village in a different state where they arrested his parents. 72 hours after, no word – everyone continued to pray, and the poor mother was beside herself with worry.

The Police were smart in a way though; they alerted the resident vigilant group in the village though, and everyone was on the lookout for this evil Uncle. This was the fifth day.

One particular day, a man carrying home his produce from the farm noticed a man walking into the deep parts of the bush with two young boys, half dragging one of them. They were quite far from him so he couldn’t make out their faces but when he got home, he told someone who told someone who mentioned it to the vigilante group. The vigilante group immediately made camp at the entrance and exit points of the forest, and started waiting.

After about 24 hours, the man appeared, and when he was questioned, said he didn’t know anything about the boys, and he just entered the bushes to pray, a personal retreat of some sort. It was only when he’d been doused with petrol and a tire was hanging round his neck that he confessed and then took the villagers to the place where he hid the children, our family friend, and another young boy.

This story ended well, and I was joking with my Momma and said I’m sure that mother won’t let her children out of her sight again!!

When I wrote about pedophiles and child molestation cases on the rise sometime in 2010, apart from ranting I mentioned some ways we can protect ourselves and our little ones while we wait for our government to leave the comatose state it is in presently. Ladies and gentlemen, the days are evil. Let’s teach our children little things like

• Talking to strangers is forbidden.
• Following ANYONE is forbidden, be it uncle, aunty,neighbour, friend at school, no one except mummy or daddy give their express permission in person. They shouldn’t listen to ‘your mommy said you should follow me’.
• Call me paranoid but have codes with your children. I’m an adult but apart from knowing my parent’s voice and writing style, there are words/names they use with us without fail each time we communicate. If I don’t hear that, it’s not them. Grow your kids like that.
• Teach them not to beg o!!! And not to accept anything to eat or drink without mummy and daddy’s express permission.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

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