The deaths of six year-old Sean Luke and four-year-old Amy Emily Annamunthodo has raised awareness of child sexual abuse in T&T.

Be it at the hands of children or adults, one thing is now clear, children in this so-called paradise are being subjected to a level of sexual abuse that is unpalatable.

In a way, the deaths of these innocents could be seen as sacrificial, for had it not been for their gruesome killings, the relevant authorities would not have been cajoled to act on a problem that has been in existence for years.

The Government has pounced into action, investigating “The System” that has clearly been failing our children and allowing the problem to fester. Renewed focus is being placed on the Children’s Authority Act passed in 2002, but not implemented.

The private sector has jumped into the fray too. Last week, on the day Annamunthodo’s parents appeared in court charged for her death, TSTT and the Caribbean Association of National Telecom Organisations teamed up with Childline to establish an emergency hotline for abused children. The number 131 replaced the original number 800-4321.

Now that they no longer have to suffer in the darkness of public ignorance, victims are coming forward to relate their horrors at the hands of sick, perverted individuals.

Childline is one of the organisations that children turn to for help. A free, confidential, listening and counselling service, Childline operates today with 40 volunteers and the lines are open six days a week, eight hours a day.

But the organisation needs help. In an interview with WomanWise writer Camille Bethel, Ayanna Gellineau, programme co-ordinator of Childline, lamented the challenges facing this essential service (pg 7).

Topping the list of course, is the issue of money. Childline needs $327,000 a year to maintain its hotlines. While companies such as Atlantic LNG, Methanol Holdings have assisted in the past, more help is needed to pay for electricity and the high cost of calls. As it is, Childline barely has enough money to last the next few months.

Then there is the issue of volunteers. As more victims come forward, more volunteers are needed to man the lines. Young people looking to build job experience ought to apply since volunteer work can teach skills needed in the workplace.

While most people put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard to document their outrage over the abuse and murder of our children, very few put their hands in their pockets to help the organisations that were founded to curtail the incidence of such crimes.

In local parlance, that’s like spinning top in mud.