On Pinky’s (not her real name) first day at St Jude’s Home for Girls’ in Belmont, a matron, according to her, encouraged other girls to physically attack her.
“She was like so and so, deal with she for me they and so and so did get up,” Pinky said yesterday, as she recounted her stay at one of the homes currently in the news following the release of the Judith Jones Task Force’s report into the operations of children’s homes and care centres across the country.
The 307-page Judith Jones Task Force report highlighted cases of physical and sexual abuse, gang rape and even prostitution at institutions.
Pinky claimed she endured severe physical abuse orchestrated by the matron and those under her (matron) during her stay in the system.
At just 13-years-old in a foreign environment, Pinky said she had to make a decision on whether to fight back or walk away. She chose the latter.
“So and so was her pet, so and so was her puppet, so and so was who she used to check other girls and put the new girls in place so that the new girls know what the order was,” she explained.
It’s why the former resident believes some of the employees, while qualified, should not be allowed to work with children, especially traumatised ones.
Pinky admitted that she was rebellious in her teenage years but said her actions were just reactions to what she had to deal with.
“I think they thought (her parents) the best method of correction was prayer and licks, spare the rod and spoil the child,” she said.
She said she was bullied in school because of the colour of her skin, texture of her hair and her facial features. But no one, not her parents or even the professionals at the homes, took the time to learn and help her with that.
“You could never be qualified to deal with children and using children to beat up other children; you get qualified in hell,” she said
Pinky spent approximately three months at St Jude’s before being admitted to St Ann’s Hospital and then the Juvenile Section of the Women’s Prison.
But while at the home, she not only experienced abuse but witnessed it happen to other residents as well.
“They used to keep a Down Syndrome young lady locked in the stairs…it was like a prison, that’s not how you treat special needs kids,” she said.
She said while there she was not able to go to school, go outside or use any of the electronic devices. According to Pinky, there were times when people brought items for her but she never received them.
“I would have heard things like girls’ heads getting shaven off, girls getting put in a dark room, like a jail cell,” she said.
The now 20-something-year-old said the matrons wrote inaccurate reports for the magistrates about some girls involved in the fights, even stating that they were mentally ill. She said as a result of this, some of the residents would be sent to the St Ann’s Hospital and given medication without a question.
“It’s unfair to me and to other girls for their story not to be heard, everybody just putting their own twist to what you going through and just have you this way, St Ann’s one day, St Jude’s the next, St Dominic’s the next, women’s prison the next, just because of what someone with power and authority writes,” she explained, as she revealed her reason for coming out with her story.
While at St Ann’s, her parents did not give permission to the authorities there for her to get medicated but she said the medicine administered to some of her friends affected them.
Noting one of her friend’s experiences after being medicated, Pinky said, “She slow, the medication had her slow.”
Amidst her struggles, Pinky was able to pass her CSEC subjects, attend university and graduate with a degree in Psychology.
She said she chose that field to become the help for people currently in the system, a luxury she did not have.
“Everybody always like to talk about the girl who running away, she bad and they should lock she up and put she in St Jude’s but they doesn’t really understand why she behaving so, nobody born bad,” she said.
Pinky now dreams of becoming a youth development practitioner so that she can help other young girls understand and overcome their trauma.
She is currently looking for a job in that field and has applied to the On-The-Job Training Programme, National Employment Service and even the Gender and Child Affairs Ministry.
She said she believes children’s homes are needed across the country but the current ones need restructuring if helping children is the goal.
“I feel like I relate with them the most for sure,” she said.
