No, no, no Allister – I am not advertising for you at all. I am just reflecting on last week’s experiences with two Anguillian youths and trying, as usual, to come up with some answers to my multitude of questions.

Apart from this column’s Congratulations, not much can be added to the accolades heaped upon that son of the soil who made us so proud last week when he was selected to the West Indies Cricket Team. The responses from the Government, the media, the National Trust and all and sundry were quite appropriate. It was a badly needed moment of pride. The two responses that touched me most were those of Omari Banks’ mother who asked for our prayers and the comments from his uncle Val Banks that he had nothing to do with that selection and listed the support of family and community among the factors that helped that young man to achieve his goals. Those of us who know and love Omari realised that his own personal efforts paid off but as Uncle Val indicated, Omari was well-equipped with the social capital that many of our youths find themselves without and are therefore unable to realise their full potential. That brings me to another son of the soil and I have already contacted all the authorities I could think of so I will not call his name even though I believe that for children like him we need to do much more than pray.
He is fourteen years old and about 5.45 one morning last week I found him asleep on a bench on the National Trust’s verandah. I woke him up, got his name and address then told him to get in the car so that I could take him home. I asked him what he had been doing in The Valley the night before and why he had chosen to sleep on the bench. His responses seemed slow in coming and I was trying to assess whether he was telling the truth or whether he was a child with learning difficulties. However, having been trained in Social Work I could see signs of a situation about to happen if it had not yet happened. As we drove to his home, I scolded him, reminding him that a child had recently been reported missing and was later found dead. I asked him if he had not stopped to think that his family may have been worrying about him all night and then it dawned on me that maybe his family did not even know he had slept out. I took him to the home that he told me he shared with his mother and two younger siblings and waited in the car to speak with his mother. By then it was about 6.00 a.m. He went inside and returned shortly to tell me that his mother had already left for work but, when questioned, could not tell me the name of his mother’s place of employment. I was not satisfied so I honked outside the nearest house and told the neighbour who came out, what had happened, asking him to keep an eye on the youth. The neighbour told me that he knew the situation and that the boy had already experienced the inside of the prison. He also let me know where I would most likely find the mother so I drove to the place where she and her partner were and woke her up to tell her where I had found her child and the rest of the story.

The mother was quite co-operative and took me to the bathroom where I saw a bar of soap and clean underwear. She told me that she and her partner had found the lad sleeping in a place near where she was staying and she had aroused him and sent him to bathe. She did not see him again that night and told me that I would again find him on the National Trust’s premises. She also told me that he had a court case the next day and though she did not think prison was the right place for him she thought it would be the best place for him as his hands were too fast and he would not listen to her. By then the pages of many a textbook had begun to leap out at me and I responded by asking the mother when exactly he had begun to steal and lie. As I rightly assumed, the behaviour had begun in primary school right around that stage of his life when those behaviours are typical of the need for emotional attention of the sort that many Anguillian parents have attempted to meet by giving children money or the things that money can buy.

I wanted to be so angry with that mother but I could not be, because I could see and feel her own distress at not being able to cope with her child. I indicated to her that maybe he had chosen to sleep nearby as a means of telling her that he wanted to be near her. She seemed to consider this but by then, other people were coming by and needing her attention so I did not have much time. I stayed just long enough to tell her that she should never give up on her son. After all, he had lived for a mere fourteen years and I was unwilling to believe that someone so young could not be redeemed. I resisted the temptation to make arrangements to see her later or to intervene any further because I do not have the resources needed to make either a further personal intervention or a professional one for that matter. I know the story about lack of resources in the Social Development Department and it is true. I also know the story that we have no separate facilities for children like that boy but that in the prison they are separated from the hardcore criminals. I also know that the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified on Anguilla’s behalf and that none of these responses is adequate for a country that has just been declared not poor and for an island that is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.

It is not important for anyone to call me in response to this story that I wish were a piece of fiction but our children whether they make it to the West Indies Cricket team or Her Majesty’s Prison are ours. Two small suggestions for the here and now would be to make the care of children in trouble a number one priority for any investor asking how his/her venture could contribute to Anguilla’s social development. It means we must have a plan ready with figures available. Secondly, we should ensure the strongest participation possible in the Child and Adolescent Conference in St. Kitts at the end of June and go armed with proposals for partnering with neighbouring islands in a manner that allows for the sharing of resources. In spite of the findings, we would be very poor indeed if we continue to be as complacent as we are about the well being of those who are supposed to be our hope.

Ijahnya Christian

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