It takes a village

Approximately, 90% percent of children that are sexually abused will not report it and will carry that secret shameful burden alone into adulthood. As I am typing this I have to pause to absorb what these numbers mean. The statistics say 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys will report being sexually abused before the age of eighteen, this is a crazy high number of children. With just these numbers, roughly seven children in every elementary class room will report being sexually abused. This is crazy, sad and real! The other side of this truth is ninety percent of children that are being sexually abused will never disclose to authorities of their abuse. That means we have a lot of children caring around a very heavy burden. These sweet innocent children eventually state believing the lies because they do not hear the truth. The fact that so many of our children will grow into broken adults because they are carrying the guilt, lies and burdens from something that doesn't even belong to them is heart braking and needs to change. This overwhelming burden rest solely on the abuser, so lets give it back to them. The battle of ending sexually abuse is a long up hill battle that will take time and the effort of all of us. It truly takes a village to raise a child and if each village is aware, educated and prepared with knowledge they will be able to better protect their children from the inevitable intruder that tries to befriend us in order to harm our children. I want to live and be part of a village like this.