The Chil­dren Bill has fi­nal­ly been passed in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, with both the Op­po­si­tion and the Gov­ern­ment vot­ing "yes" to it on Wednes­day. Chil­dren who are be­ing abused and tak­en ad­van­tage are one step clos­er to get­ting the pro­tec­tion they need. Hope­ful­ly there will be no more chil­dren killed at the hands of rel­a­tives and oth­ers.

To­wards this end the Gov­ern­ment has set up a hot­line num­ber that chil­dren can call and get help. The num­ber in Trinidad is 800-4321. The Gov­ern­ment is al­so ad­vo­cat­ing that the hot­line num­ber be dis­trib­uted in all schools through­out the coun­try. The time has come for the peo­ple of T&T to join to­geth­er as a so­ci­ety and re­alise that the youth are our hope for to­mor­row.

We need to fos­ter and nur­ture them in the best ways pos­si­ble. If we pro­vide them with the tools cru­cial to their sur­vival we will be bet­ter for it. Our so­ci­ety and by ex­ten­sion our world will be bet­ter..

Jack Reg­is

Via e-mail