“It takes a village to raise a child.” — African Proverb
The extended family is not just tradition – it’s resilience, wisdom, and invisible hands that catch what you can’t. But today, many elders feel isolated, and many young parents feel alone. Here’s how we might rediscover the village and weave its threads into our children’s safety net:
Child:
“Mom… can I tell you something, even if it’s hard?”
Parent:
“You always can. I’ll listen with my whole heart.”
Inspired by the silent voices, the long gazes, and the questions never asked.
Children don’t always say it directly, but their hearts speak loud. Beneath their play, behind their schoolwork, inside their silences – you’ll hear the messages waiting to be understood.
“A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” — African Proverb
The warmth a child seeks should never be found in danger, manipulation, or reckless attention. As parents, we must be the first to offer safety – not just physical, but emotional and spiritual.
Part 3: From Silence to Solidarity
Series: “Not Safe Out There – Breaking the Cycle of Violence in Our Schools”
“When we teach children to protect themselves, we teach communities to protect each other.”
The Silence Is Loud
In every school, there are children who don’t speak.
Not because they have nothing to say –
but because they’ve learned that speaking up doesn’t change anything.
They’ve seen adults ignore bruises.
They’ve watched teachers turn away.
They’ve heard the silence after reporting abuse.
They’ve seen the bullies win, and come back triumphant
This silence is not passive.
It’s protective.
It’s survival.
Part 2: It Takes a Village
“Safeguarding doesn’t start with a policy because the Violence Doesn’t Usually Start at School
When a child lashes out, it’s rarely about the classroom.
It’s about what happened before they arrived:
We cannot talk about school violence without talking about home.
And we cannot talk about home without talking about the absence – of parents, of structure, of emotional safety.
1: The Violence We Carry
I was a teacher at one of these two schools mentioned.
“Don’t leave the school yet, Miss. It’s not safe out there.”
That warning came from a student, breathless and wide-eyed, as he burst into my classroom one afternoon, within 10 minutes after the last bell had rung for the day.
Outside, motorbikes roared. Men with clubs and chains circled the school gates. A teacher’s car was smashed as he was driving out of the gates.
He was traumatised.
They were hunting a student – retaliation for a beating he’d orchestrated with some of his bouncer friends days earlier against a student of a nearby institution
That was 25 years ago.
✅ New & Resolved Cases
In our schools, on our streets, in the pulse of ordinary days. And now they are gone.
Young women missing. Two confirmed dead. One only 14 years old.
These are not numbers. They are lives paused mid-sentence.
And somewhere between the initial media alerts and the vanishing headlines, we find ourselves suspended in a familiar ache: rage, mourning, and that hollow echo of helplessness.
“We cannot protect what we refuse to see.”
Reporting Period: 8–23 June 2025
🕯️ Still Missing:
🕊️ Confirmed Losses:
Champions tor Change is a South Atrican Non-Protit Organization (NPO), founded in June 2014. It is managed by two sisters with years of dedicated protessional experience in Southern Atrica and exposure within the UK, to the caring service industry, respectively in Health, Childcare and Education.
