Dear Editor,
The children sent to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) need love not a ‘Quiet Room’ where they’re stripped of their human dignity and worth! All human beings need love and children who suffer ‘neglect’ need it the most. Hugging children and saying ‘I love you’ can and does transform a once unruly child because love is the best medicine that heals and transforms the human soul. There needs to be a new institution that promotes love and is child friendly and subscribes to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – (Children are the most vulnerable creatures).
In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, love and belonging is a need that all children need before they can reach the next tier which is ‘Self Actualisation’. Children in difficult circumstances can become good productive citizens if love is administered daily to them. Each child needs to know that they’re loved and feel that they belong and we as a society cannot just allow our most vulnerable to be violated while we remain silent and turn a blind eye to their cry for love! Our Nation’s children are crying out for love! Please let us all endeavour to give them that love!
Yours faithfully,
Nicole Cole
Clinical Social Work
Practitioner
